Assessment Blog

Art and beauty are in the eye of the beholder.

There is my video project and then there is the criteria that I would use if I were to design a digital storytelling project for my classroom. In my storytelling project I connected a civic engagement project for the 8^th grade class I was observing and a personal event from my past. The classroom assignment was to find an issue they felt strongly about and propose a change or modification in existing law or policy, or to propose a new law. The students individually compiled an impressive range of topical events between themselves with which to apply this civic engagement project. Abortion, gun control, gender equality, the environment were topics of interest but the one that caught my eye was “Ban the Military”. I served in the Army and I agreed with the philosophy of her comment, but it made me wonder what she knew of the military. She was young enough to have never known a time in her life without war. Had a close family member been affected? Did she understand it was the politicians that sent men and women to war? Did she understand that an individual soldier was just another person? Did she understand what the military experience did for some people. I set out on this project with the idea of showing her that the military is made up of individuals, mostly just average people doing what many consider just a job. Was I successful in that goal? Maybe, but probably not. I did the project, I found it interesting, it put together many things I have learned or used in my lifetime. So, what criteria would I use to evaluate my digital story? I used the criteria laid out in Ohler, Chapter 4.

Having a degree in fine arts from an art and design college and having laid out the design for many newsletters, books with numerous graphic elements, and a whole career worth of “getting the information out” I felt I had a pretty good handle on the design elements of the project but what I am continuing to learn is how this experience translates to something useful for students. Reflecting back I find many applications where the combination of audio and visual would have been powerful tools of persuasion or learning. There are some elements from Ohler’s list that would not be practical in this application.  The story for the project is mine and one that is 38 years old. It is about my graduation from Army basic training, a time that required great sacrifice and commitment to complete. Because the story is so old and familiar the project planning was more about finding the images to support the idea. Originality, voice and creativity is another of the assessment criteria I will adopt. Within my project I feel the story is one that many people have lived and can relate to, what I tried to do to relate this to an 8^th grade student and her views of ‘banning the military’ was to create these ideas outside of what training was doing. These ideas are scattered throughout the story, they are ideas I had then and continue to still hold. I had no great research to accomplish in this project other than finding the relevant media and develop it throughout the story. The script took many turns from the original draft to the final voice-over. I found that I needed to delete about two-thirds of everything I had written, so economy was a necessity. I think one of my strongest points was what Ohler refers to as flow, organization and pacing. Because it’s a linear story flow was not an issue. Organization of the elements also posed no significant problems for me either. Pacing was however a technical issue for me in that I had trouble manipulating the software to place elements into the exact time space I wanted. I think I have presented the story I wanted to tell well and used the design elements to help propel the story to its conclusion.

My Assessment:

Story – 8/10

Project Planning – 5/10

Originality… – 8/10

Research – 10/10

Relevant Media – 10/10

Script – 8/10

Economy – 7/10

Flow, organization … – 10/10

Presentation – 9/10

Design Elements – 9/10

SCORE 84 out of 100