E-Valuating Student Work, Hardware and Software

What does it mean to evaluate something? Well, the root of the word evaluation is "value," which, as it turns out, is a word with a variety of definitions depending on what is being evaluated.
One of this week's topics was the use of rubrics to evaluate student work. Before starting this class I had only a vague understanding of rubrics so as with many unfamiliar concepts, I approached this topic with some trepidation. However, the more I read about rubrics and the more I learned as I worked on creating my own rubric, the more I have come to appreciate their usefulness. Several of the referenced articles mentioned how parents really seem to like rubrics "once they understand how they are used." This, I think, is an important consideration because most parents are probably unfamiliar with rubrics and probably regard them like I did initially. So to evaluate a student's work using a rubric is simply to measure it's worth or degree of excellence compared to a carefully considered menu of pre-defined criteria. One way to define the criteria is to base it on previous student work on the same or similar assignments. Rubrics are useful for self-evaluation by the student, the other students in the class who participate in peer evaluations, parents who want to help their child with their work and teachers who can save time in grading the work. As a non-teacher, I can think of two ways I may be able to incorporate rubrics in my daily work; in assigning and evaluating projects given to staff or teachers and in employee performance evaluations.
The other topic I spent some time considering this week was evaluating hardware and software purchases. In this case, the value is more tangible in that you are looking at the features and benefits derived from a product or service in relation to the monetary cost of that item. Most people do this kind of evaluation all the time; at the grocery store, working on the family budget, making a major purchase, planning a vacation, etc. In my previous position, I had to evaluate the purchase of promotional items and advertising space. In my current job, I provided input on the purchase of laptop computers for student use taking into consideration things like, cost, reliability, features, security, longevity and liability. For example, Apple laptops were generally more reliable and had a longer useful lifespan, but we decided to buy 1,000 Compaq laptops instead because they were a third of the cost, more familiar for most students and more easily repaired. I also evaluate software and subscriptions to learning resources like Explore Learning Gizmos and United Streaming videos. I have the teachers who request these services provide justification for classroom applications then weigh the cost implications in the context of the school budget.
I do have to take issue with one of the web resources provided to learn about evaluating hardware and software. The article has an intriguing title, "How To Buy An Educational Software In Sixty Seconds Or Less," but that turned out to be misleading. I was hoping for something that would help simplify the process, but what I got was cursory dose of low-level, and sometimes contradictory advice. On the on hand, the author says to make sure the software is fun and entertaining while later on he cautions that if the graphics are too flashy, they can be distracting to students. He also says that using educational software should be effortless. I disagree. I think teachers should put as much thought and effort into choosing education software as they do selecting any other resource and maybe even more because we all know that technology should only be used if there is a clearly identified educational purpose. 

Presentations and Digital Stories

There are some interesting similarities and contrasts between Garr Reynolds approach to presentations and Bernajean Porter's take on digital storytelling. Both emphasize the importance of using images to help tell the story and both spend a considerable amount of time discussing how to obtain, manipulate, edit and position images for greatest impact. This is an interesting approach since traditionally, both presentations and stories relied much more heavily on words than images - the printed or spoken word in stories and the much maligned bullet-point lists so often found in presentations.
Prezi fits nicely into this new way of telling stories because of it's very visual, non-linear approach to presentations - although the zooming nature of Prezi can fly in the face of the simpler, zen-like style advocated by Reynolds. I have seen some Prezis that overdo the zooming to the point beyond distraction to bordering on seasickness.
The other element both authors emphasize is the spoken narrative. Both talk about the importance of delivering the narrative in a natural way, as opposed to reading a script. Reynolds focuses more on the "naturalness" when presenting live while Porter describes how a digital storyteller can use their vocal performance tools (pauses, inflection, etc.) to help tell their story.
The combination of high-quality, carefully selected images combined with a well-planned, purposefully created narrative and tempered with restraint, simplicity and creative design makes for powerful communication instruments in the form of more engaging presentations and entertaining digital stories.