Article Review #4: Assessment and Instruction of Multimedia

Ostenson, J.W. (2012).  Connecting assessment and instruction to help students become more critical producers of multimedia.  Journal of Media Literacy Education, 4(2), 167-178.

Summary

     In Connecting Assessment and Instruction to Help Students Become More Critical Producers of Multimedia, Ostenson (2012) presents the struggle in teachers of how to assess students work with multimedia.  He explains the importance of designing assessments that are authentic and having instruction and assessment tightly integrated.   Ostenson also suggests that while text plays an important role in multimedia, image and audio are likely to play even larger roles in conveying meaning.

     Ostenson (2012) highlights the following criteria (and includes generic rubrics) to be helpful in both assessing and teaching writing in digital genres:

1.       Evaluating the use of images: focus on emphasis, lighting, angle and color to assess and teach critical and purposeful use of images;

2.       Evaluating organizational elements: focus on how to sequence images as well as how to effectively transition between images to convey meaning;

3.       Evaluating the use of audio:  focus on the quality of audio and the appropriateness of it in it being purposeful and strengthening the visual presentation;

4.       Student reflection: focus on student self-reflection and how they have learned to make effective choices in multimedia presentations.

     Ostenson (2012) asserts that our job as teachers is to “help students develop their critical thinking skills needed to make the most of new technologies and teaching” (p.174).  This, in turn, will allow students to develop more authentic media literacy skills. 

Reflection

     Understanding by design.  Assessment drives instruction.  Always work with the end in mind.  As teachers, we have all heard these phrases.  If we know what we want our students to learn, how do we get them there?

     It is obvious that if teachers are purposeful in choosing multimedia tools to enhance the curriculum, then this will support student mastery of learner objectives.  Yet even more important, students gain the necessary understanding of critical media literacy skills for the 21^st century.  Instead of assessing a traditional piece of writing, how can we move our students into composing with different media like podcasts or screencasts?  Furthermore, are we prepared to assess multimedia work so that students become more purposeful in how they use media?  It is a shift in instruction and assessment, but as we all know in education, shift happens.

     As educators, we need to challenges ourselves and “how we learned” in using more traditional forms of communication so that our students can benefit from engaging in new, cutting edge technology and media that will improve their overall digital literacy.