Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling

Evaluation of Digital Storytelling

Research Studies on the Effectiveness of Digital Storytelling

Since 2005, educators and graduate students at the University of Houston’s Laboratory for Innovative Technology in Education (LITE) have been conducting a series of research projects to evaluate the effectiveness of Digital Storytelling. In one case, three groups of public school teachers are being tracked following their participation in an intensive Digital Storytelling workshop offered at the University of Houston campus. The three groups, composed of elementary, middle and high school teachers, were shown examples of different types of digital stories and then learned to create digital stories that they could use in their own classrooms. The teachers are completing surveys that will be used to measure and evaluate whether or not they have continued to use Digital Storytelling as a component of their instructional practice, the impact of such use and in cases, where there is no use of Digital Storytelling, what are the barriers to its use. The table below illustrates the specific research questions that are being investigated.

Teachers who ARE USING Digital Storytelling	Teachers who ARE NOT USING Digital Storytelling
How are you using Digital Storytelling?	Why are you not using Digital Storytelling? What are the obstacles?
Are you creating digital stories to show to your students?	Do you have questions about how to use Digital Storytelling in your instruction?
Are you teaching your students to create their own digital stories?	Are you experiencing technical problems? If so, what problems are you having?
If students are using Digital Storytelling, what are the outcomes?	Are you interested in additional Digital Storytelling training sessions?
Have you demonstrated Digital Storytelling to others? If so, to other teachers? Who else?	Are there other issues that are preventing you from using Digital Storytelling in your instruction?
Do you feel that Digital Storytelling has changed your teaching practice?	Are you planning to use Digital Storytelling in the future?

Research Questions for Teachers Who Completed a Digital Storytelling Workshop

Researchers in early childhood education and multimedia technology at the University of Texas at El Paso are conducting a research study on Digital Storytelling with elementary and middle school students and teachers from the border region of Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. In the study, the students are using multimedia software tools to create digital stories based on multicultural folktales and myths. The study seeks to measure the effectiveness of the Digital Storytelling activity by examining the students’ understanding of the major points in the folktales as well as their technology skills in creating the stories. And because many of the students in the study are second language learners of English, the effectiveness of Digital Storytelling to enhance both graphics-based technology tools and communication will undoubtedly lead to further research.

Dr. Helen Barrett has proposed a research design to collect data about Digital Storytelling in education. In part, Barrett suggests that if Digital Storytelling is to become an accepted practice in today’s schools, it will be necessary to collect data about its impact on student learning, motivation and engagement as well as teaching practices and strategies. She suggests that the following key research questions be investigated:

How do digital stories provide evidence of deep learning?
Under what conditions can digital stories be successfully used to support assessment for learning?
Under what conditions do students take ownership of their digital stories?
What are the benefits of developing digital stories as perceived by students, teachers, administrators, and/or parents?
What are perceived obstacles to implementing digital storytelling with P-12 students and how can they be overcome?
How does the quality of paper-based reflection differ from digital stories?

While she was a graduate student at Iowa State University, Stacy Behmer, now a teacher in Aurora, Illinois, designed an action research project around Digital Storytelling with 7th grade language arts students. Stacy and another teacher developed a curricular unit that had students creating their own digital stories on personal topics they selected. One factor that makes this project so compelling is that the unit was aligned with the classroom's literacy standards and benchmarks and assessments were developed to gather the results. Stacy also adds a personal reflection statement of her own and the entire project serves as a wonderful testament of how Digital Storytelling is motivating young learners as well as a great example of research that's being done to assess its effectiveness in the classroom.

http://projects.educ.iastate.edu/~ds/Behmer/

Evaluating Student Work on Digital Storytelling

A number of evaluation instruments are available for educators to assess student performance in Digital Storytelling. One such instrument is the rubric. Rubrics are used to evaluate the quality of student work on a complex project, using indicators in several categories. One good source is Rubistar, where you will you will find some pre-made evaluation options as well as information on how to create your own evaluation resources.

The sample rubric below is based on work created by teachers and shared on the Rubistar website, as well as the work of Dr. Helen Barrett, and Scott County, Kentucky Schools.

To use the rubric to evaluate student work on Digital Storytelling, you should determine the number of points achieved in each of 10 categories. Then add the points up for all 10 categories and multiply by 2.5. The lowest score possible is a "25" and the highest is "100." Please note that a score of at least a "3" in a category must be achieved for the quality of the student's work to be considered satisfactory in that category.

CATEGORY	4 Points	3 Points	2 Points	1 Point
1. Purpose of Story	Establishes a purpose early on and maintains a clear focus throughout.	Establishes a purpose early on and maintains focus for most of the presentation.	There are a few lapses in focus, but the purpose is fairly clear.	It is difficult to figure out the purpose of the presentation.
2. Point of View	The point of view is well developed and contributes to the overall meaning of the story.	The point of view is stated but does not connect with each part of the story, although an attempt is made to connect it to the overall meaning of the story.	The point of view is stated but no attempt is made to connect it to the overall meaning of the story.	The point of view is only hinted at, or is difficult to discern.
3. Dramatic Question	A meaningful dramatic question is asked and answered within the context of the story.	A dramatic question is asked but not clearly answered within the context of the story.	A dramatic question is hinted at but not clearly established within the context of the story.	Little or no attempt is made to pose a dramatic question or answer it.
4. Choice of Content	Contents create a distinct atmosphere or tone that matches different parts of the story. The images may communicate symbolism and/or metaphors.	Contents create an atmosphere or tone that matches some parts of the story. The images may communicate symbolism and/or metaphors.	An attempt was made to use contents to create an atmosphere/tone but it needed more work. Image choice is logical.	Little or no attempt to use contents to create an appropriate atmosphere/tone.
5. Clarity of Voice	Voice quality is clear and consistently audible throughout the presentation.	Voice quality is clear and consistently audible throughout the majority (85-95%) of the presentation.	Voice quality is clear and consistently audible through some (70-84%)of the presentation.	Voice quality needs more attention.
6. Pacing of Narrative	The pace (rhythm and voice punctuation) fits the story line and helps the audience really "get into" the story.	Occasionally speaks too fast or too slowly for the story line. The pacing (rhythm and voice punctuation) is relatively engaging for the audience.	Tries to use pacing (rhythm and voice punctuation), but it is often noticeable that the pacing does not fit the story line. Audience is not consistently engaged.	No attempt to match the pace of the storytelling to the story line or the audience.
7. Meaningful Audio Soundtrack	Music stirs a rich emotional response that matches the story line well. Images coordinated with the music.	Music stirs a rich emotional response that somewhat matches the story line. Images mostly coordinated with the music.	Music is ok, and not distracting, but it does not add much to the story. Not coordinated with images.	Music is distracting, inappropriate, OR was not used.
8. Quality of Images	Images create a distinct atmosphere or tone that matches different parts of the story. The images may communicate symbolism and/or metaphors.	Images create an atmosphere or tone that matches some parts of the story. The images may communicate symbolism and/or metaphors.	An attempt was made to use images to create an atmosphere/tone but it needed more work. Image choice is logical.	Little or no attempt to use images to create an appropriate atmosphere/tone.
9. Economy of Story Detail	The story is told with exactly the right amount of detail throughout. It does not seem too short nor does it seem too long	The story composition is typically good, though it seems to drag somewhat OR need slightly more detail in one or two sections.	The story seems to need more editing. It is noticeably too long or too short in more than one section.	The story needs extensive editing. It is too long or too short to be interesting.
10. Grammar and Language Usage	Grammar and usage were correct (for the dialect chosen) and contributed to clarity, style and character development.	Grammar and usage were typically correct (for the dialect chosen) and errors did not detract from the story.	Grammar and usage were typically correct but errors detracted from story.	Repeated errors in grammar and usage distracted greatly from the story.

Other rubrics used to evaluate Digital Storytelling projects include:

Jason Ohler's Web Page on Assessing Digital Stories and New Media Narrative Projects
http://www.jasonohler.com/storytelling/assessment.cfm
Rubrics for Digital Storytelling Class by Meg Ormiston
http://www.techteachers.com/digstory/gradclass/rubrics.htm

For more information, please contact:
Bernard R. Robin, Ph. D.
Instructional Technology Program
College of Education
University of Houston

Evaluation of Digital Storytelling

CATEGORY

4 Points

3 Points

2 Points

1 Point