Ch. 2 Reflection "Defining and Discussing Digital Storytelling: Helping Teachers See, Think, and Talk About Digital Storytelling"

In my experience it is not uncommon for a media arts teacher or their students to be recruited to develop a video for any gambit of gatherings from back to school night to graduation.  In most cases the individuals requesting the video do not realize that these projects take about one hour of production time to one minute of finished product—for an experienced creator.  Many times these projects will be rushed and the end result is a story that is not compelling and lacks what Ohler calls "story core" in chapter 5.  It is important for educators to understand that digital story telling has a process that takes "time" and that "the time" is not wasted if the students are following the process and learning.  I feel that in this chapter Ohler does a good job of reviewing several principles that could help guide a teacher to set clear targets for their student’s productions.  Such expectations could help clarify the purpose of the work and significantly increase the rigor of skills needed to complete a project.  I think that Ohler's information in this chapter relates well with my own views that teaching with technology is much like teaching with literature in that the relevancy of what I teach is in my student's ability to grapple with ideas, process information, and apply practiced skills and not necessarily the book I have chosen for them to read.