Assessment
The project provided the occasion to assess library and research skills, research paper writing, script writing, storyboarding, film-making, and communication through a poster. We discuss several of these areas below.
Use of library time
We gave students a form to determine if there was enough information on their original idea. This form was also used to assess how much work was done in the library (see Appendix VI.2). If the student was unable to find enough information to fill out the form, then he/she had to choose another machine. We were at the library all day so there was plenty of time to change focus and still find information on their second choice.
Script
The script was assessed according to how well it included the information presented in the research paper.
Storyboard
Students had to have a storyboard with one frame every 5 seconds on average. The minimum movie length was 5 minutes. Each storyboard frame had to include a picture (cut-out) and a brief description, using the script as a reference, of what was going to be said while that picture was on the screen.
Rough and final drafts of movie
A rubric for assessing the movie is included in Appendix VI.4. The same rubric was used to assess the rough draft.
Movie poster
A short checklist was used to ensure that all students were allowed as much creative freedom as they wanted while keeping the posters somewhat formatted. See Appendix VI.5.