Week 3

Digital Storytelling- I thought the information on assessment was very worthwhile. One thing that has always frustrated me as a media specialist was seeing students creating really poorly done presentations but teachers raving over them. I think that teachers viewed anything that was done with technology as being worthy of an A; or they just didn't know what made for a good visual presentation. I totally agree with the statement on pg. 63, "Thus, if learning how to read and write passes muster as intelligence, learning how to understand and create new media -- that is, learning how to read and write new media narrative -- should as well." I thought that the criteria that Ohler chooses to assess are important. Assessment is a huge focus in learning today and the criteria that Ohler suggests hit on many of the different types of assessment: preassessment, formative assessment, evaluative assessment; etc. Most importantly DST is an authentic assessment where students have to demonstrate that they can utilize what they have learned in many different areas. Also, DST has mentioned earlier hits on several different types of literacies so it is cross-curricular. So with one production students are learning a wide variety of information. One thing that is very overlooked in our current school curricula is presentation and particularly oral presentation skills. This is something that businesses say over and over is a skill that workers need to have. Public speaking is listed as the #1 fear for most people. Digital storytelling is a way to get students to practice their speaking abilities. I was extremely shy, so I can understand and sympathize with students who may be reluctant to speak in front of a group. But DST presents many ways that this can be done so that even the shiest student could have the opportunity to practice their auditory skills.