Assessing Media Work
The video opens with onscreen text that reads: “Good assessment means letting students show what they know in a language they understand.”
Narration: Good assessment means letting students show what they know in a language they understand.
The onscreen text changes to: “In many cases, students will be more ‘fluent’ in making media than they are in writing essays, doing oral presentations, writing up lab reports or all of the other ways we typically assess them.”
Narration: In many cases, students will be more “fluent” in making media than they are in writing essays, doing oral presentations, writing up lab reports or all of the other ways we typically assess them.
The onscreen text updates to: “The more different ways students have to demonstrate their learning, the more accurate our overall measure is.”
Narration: The more different ways students have to demonstrate their learning, the more accurate our overall measure is. Even if they’re not, though, the more different ways students have to demonstrate their learning, the more accurate our overall measure of it is. Finally, because students are often enthusiastic consumers of media, making it may feel like a more authentic and meaningful way of showing their knowledge.
The onscreen text now says: “Best practices for assessing media work”
Narration: Best practices for assessing media work
New onscreen text appears: “When you’re deciding how to assess a media project, focus on two questions:”
Narration: When you’re deciding how to assess a media project, focus on two questions:
The onscreen text presents two key questions: “What content or skills are students expected to demonstrate? How well do they use the grammar of the medium to do that?” This is followed by: “What content or skills are students expected to demonstrate, and how well can they use the grammar of the medium to show those?”
Narration: What content or skills are students expected to demonstrate, and how well do they use the grammar of the medium to do that? What content or skills are students expected to demonstrate, and how well can they use the grammar of the medium to show those?
An image of hand sanitizer is shown.
Narration: Something is antiseptic if doing it well doesn’t make a project better, but doing it badly makes it worse: if a student’s handwriting is unclear it will make it hard to mark their test, but good handwriting won’t improve it. Similarly, the sound track of a student video generally only has to be clear and audible.
An image of a cupcake with icing is displayed.
Narration: Icing, on the other hand, is everything that makes a project look polished and professional but doesn’t actually communicate course content or demonstrate students’ learning, like how well a comic is drawn (unless it’s for an art class).
Onscreen text appears with a quote and attribution: “I don’t spend any time on the details of fancy media-editing techniques or the latest, greatest editing gear. Instead, I address the ‘run-ons, ‘fragments,’ and other basic considerations of creating clear, effective new media.” Jason Ohler, Digital Storytelling in the Classroom
Narration: “I don’t spend any time on the details of fancy media-editing techniques or the latest, greatest editing gear. Instead, I address the ‘run-ons, ‘fragments,’ and other basic considerations of creating clear, effective new media.” Jason Ohler, Digital Storytelling in the Classroom You don’t want to skip these – icing can be a big part of what makes a project engaging to students, and you don’t want them to lose marks due to antiseptic factors – but you do need to make sure they know that these things only come after the key learning goals and that icing is optional.
An image of Mitchel Resnick is shown.
Narration: Similarly, when choosing a technology or tool for students to use you need to carefully consider which parts of the task it automates – what Mitchel Resnick calls its “black boxes.” Black boxes should automate the parts of the process that you don’t want to assess, but shouldn’t automate the parts you do.