When I was in my 20s, I worked on the staff of the Peace Corps in Washington, D.C. Part of my job was filming Peace Corps-related events in and around the Washington area, including a couple of events at the White House and on Capitol Hill. Today’s technology is light years ahead of where we were in the 1980s, so I admit feeling a bit lost at times, though I appreciate the need for contemporary educators to employ technology in the classroom with which students are both familiar and eager to use. Having students produce short videos or films on subjects that intrigue them is a wonderful way to stir interest and enhance student creativity. Videos can often make an otherwise mundane topic interesting.

These will be my five criteria or rubrics for assessment of my digital video story, “My Tee-Shirts Are White Again”:

1. Story – Does the story flow well and capture the viewer’s interest?  The story should be told in a manner easy to grasp by the viewer, employing understandable terminology.  The story needs to be effective at portraying change, development and/or transformation within the storyteller.

2. Originality, Voice, Creativity – Does the story reveal something new or unusual to the viewer or ask him or her to see something familiar from a new perspective?  The story should demonstrate creative and fresh ways to describe an event or series of events.  The storyteller needs to find and provide his or her own unique voice to share the story.

3. Economy – Is the story told in a straightforward manner without confusing diversions, holes, or inconsistencies?  The storyteller should leave out irrelevant material and focus priority on telling the principal story well.

4. Flow, Organization, Pacing – How well does the story flow?  The story should be well-organized such that the viewer can follow along without difficulty or confusion.  The pace should allow for sharing of information and personal insights without either being rushed or becoming tedious. Unnecessary diversions should be avoided.

5. Citations, Permissions – Does the storyteller provide in APA format anything that is not original to the film, such as images, quotations, or other material? When referencing websites, the following should be provided: Name of website, Internet address of website, and the date that material was downloaded from the website.

Ohler, J. (2013) Chapter 4: Assessing Digital Stories. Digital Storytelling in the Classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. pp. 83-91.