This week, I’ve been assigned to assess one of my projects for this course, using one the rubrics provided in the online course materials, or one that’s more suitable that I find online. I’ve chosen the rubric posted at http://www.umass.edu/wmwp/DigitalStorytelling/Rubric%20Assessment.htm, because it is a rubric for assessing students’ digital stories.

I am self-assessing my cell phone digital story, posted here: http://adamswriting.com/learning/?p=147.

According to the rubric, I’d score as follows.

Point of View/Purpose 20 points – “Establishes a purpose early on and maintains a clear focus throughout.”

Voice/Pacing 15 points – “Occasionally speaks too fast or too slowly for the story line. The pacing (rhythm and voice punctuation) is relatively engaging for the audience.”

Images 20 points – “Images create a distinct atmosphere or tone that matches different parts of the story. The images may communicate symbolism and/or metaphors.”

Economy 15 points – “The story is told with exactly the right amount of detail throughout. It does not seem too short nor does it seem too long.”

Grammar 20 points – “Grammar and usage were correct (for the dialect chosen) and contributed to clarity, style and character development.”

I would take off points in “voice/pacing” and “economy,” because my digital story speeds up a little at the end. Watching it now, I would like the ending to maintain the same pacing throughout the video.

I would award this work top marks in “point of view/purpose,” “images,” and “grammar,” because these were the video’s strong points. The rubric’s description of these criteria closely match the product in question.

Evaluating the Rubric

This rubric is an excellent starting point for a digital story rubric. Here are some concerns I have about this rubric, in regards to assessing student digital stories. I would fix these before using this with my students.

• The “images” criterion has no quality measurement. Many students choose images that are too small (resolution-wise) for video compression. They appear blurry or pixelated. This should be a part of the images section.
• There is no inclusion of music/sound effects quality, appropriateness, volume, timing, or otherwise.
• Other than “purpose/point of view,” there is no metric for the effectiveness of the story, or fidelity to the conventions of storytelling.