Community Storytelling Event Assignment Overview

*Final Reflections, Professionalization Feedback, and Digital Stories due Tuesday, December
12th by midnight via BB.*

About the Project: This semester, we are studying the power of digital storytelling and the impact it can
have on local communities, in particular, how citizens media has the potential to impact lives and spark
tangible change. We will also explore how cross-cultural communication occurs through digital storytelling,
discuss issues of appropriation, ethics, and copyright, and we will educate ourselves about how to use the
technologies available to tell meaningful digital stories.

With this knowledge in mind, as a class we will work to develop, market, and hold our own community-driven
storytelling event designed to engage Findlay community members in sharing stories about their experiences
with recent flooding. Building off work done with The Findlay Floods project and the recent flooding events of
the past summer, we will help interested community members compose a digital story about their flooding
experiences.

To properly plan and manage a successful event, we will use aspects of digital storytelling and PR to share
information across social media spaces and platforms. We will also hear from experts who have designed and
held multiple storytelling workshops geared at assisting people in telling stories about places.
Learning Objectives:
Identify and apply the elements of professional digital storytelling
Distinguish how digital stories circulate and their impact on cultures and communities
Produce high-quality audio and video stories designed to engage various audiences
Compare and contrast the benefits and constraints of audio/video stories and differentiate which
method to use for different digital stories
Create digital stories that are communally and culturally-driven
Develop a community-driven digital storytelling outreach through individual and collaborative efforts
inside and outside of the classroom

For this assignment, you will work as a class to develop, market, and hold a storytelling event
that:
a.) engages the wider Findlay community
b.) affords potential to create meaningful conversation through storytelling
c.) puts the digital stories you create in the proper historical and cultural context
d.) provides an opportunity for people to share and listen to stories of flooding

Choice of development, design, production, and management should all be dependent on your
unique intelligences, social gifts, and technological expertise.

Choice of publication materials and community stories is up to you and your team members. You
should choose to design and create materials based on your own desires to engage in civic action
and the consequences you hope our storytelling workshop will evoke.

For final assessment of your role in this project, you MUST turn in the following materials:
- a 6-8 page final reflection
- professionalization feedback for your team members (teams will be decided in class)
- a digital story you created or contributed significantly to in creating
Responsibilities of Each Team Member for Campaign Project:
1. Active Role. In order for this team-based learning activity to function smoothly, all students need to
share responsibilities through all stages of production and distribution, from design to delivery. This
does not mean everyone has to be responsible for the same tasks. Teams should establish roles for
members based on their comfort levels and expertise. We will discuss these rolls in more detail in
class, but realize that each team will decide who plays what roll and what responsibilities each roll
demands, even if each member in the group ends up playing various roles. Additionally, we will work
to establish how many digital stories we will create based on how many community members attend
our workshop.

2. Google Document. To document team work and to increase chances for smooth production and
distribution operations, each team will create and sustain a Google Document available through
Google https://www.google.com/docs/about/. On this document, you will identify your team/role,
generate to-do lists, update development activity, track time spent on this project, set benchmark
dates, and complete any additional work. This Doc will serve as evidence for all team work and your
individual contribution to the team. This Doc will thus help determine your overall Project grade (See
Campaign Rubric below).

3. Digital Story. Each of you will be responsible to assist with our storytelling workshop, where we
will assist interested community members in creating digital stories to become a part of the Findlay
Floods website hosted by The Hancock Historical Society. The amount of digital stories we create will
be dependent on how many people attend the event, so we will figure out how to compose these
stories and how they will be assessed after the workshop.

4. Feedback. At the end of the event (with your final reflection), team members will fill out an
anonymous evaluation of each of their team members professionalism. This feedback will reflect your
judgment of such things as:

Preparation Have they been prepared when they came to class? How or how not?
Contribution Have they contributed productively to the team discussion and work? How or how not?
Respect for others ideas Have they encouraged others to contribute their ideas? How or how not?
Flexibility Have they been flexible when disagreements occurred? How or how not? Have they
adjusted their own schedules to meet timeline set by team? How so or how not?

This feedback will count toward each team members overall grade for their final grade for this
assignment (See Below).

5. Individual Activity Assessment (150 points) - Each team member is responsible for putting
together a Final Individual Report/Reflection. In this written report (~1250 words), you will identify
our projects purpose in local and historical context and describe your contributions to the community
event, identifying the main tasks you took on during the project and the various activities you took part
in. In this report, please articulate the most important specific actions you put into practice to help our
storytelling workshop achieve its intended goals. Please also explain how you helped implement
those activities and what you/we specifically hoped to accomplish with each activity. In addition, draw
on at least 5 theories and concepts from the course readings to articulate why you chose these
particular tasks and how you went about implementing them. Lastly, AND VERY IMPORTANT,
please explain the most valuable lessons you learned about digital storytelling and citizens media
while working on this project.
 Rubric for Community Digital Storytelling Project
Final grades for the Community Digital Storytelling Project are constituted by weighing the overall
quality of five campaign activities described above in relation to the feedback received from your
peers about your own active contributions. If your team/the class as a whole does outstanding work in
all activities, yet your feedback forms indicate problems with your contributions, you can expect to
receive a lower grade than your team members. Should this be the case, I will set up a conference
with you before you write your individual activity report so you can address this problem in your IAR
and negotiate a grade with me on your overall project grade.

Overall Social Campaign Portion of Grade

A level Materials created for, during, and after the event are considered excellent, as they began with
a sharp, narrow rhetorical purpose, crafted a strong marketing purpose, created a welcoming
environment and organized workshop, and produced meaningful digital stories. Students thoughtfully
applied the theories and processes of digital stories in the workshop and their knowledge is evident in
the shared digital stories. Students' Project Google Doc offers strong evidence of organization and
development throughout all stages of production and organization. All deadlines for material creations
were met and plans and digital stories were well-developed, organized, and clearly articulated. All
Feedback from peers on your preparation, flexibility, contributions, and/or behavior toward others
were positive.

B+ level Elements of the project are well above average in nearly all the above counts, yet they could
have benefited from more creativity, risk-taking, planning, organization, or effective production.
Students evidently applied knowledge gained throughout course about digital storytelling in inventing,
designing, and implementing their community event. However, students' Project Doc might also have
offered stronger evidence of organization and development throughout all stages of production and
organization. Most deadlines were met, yet one of these plans may have been more developed,
organized, and clearly articulated. Feedback from peers on your preparation, flexibility, contributions,
and/or behavior toward others to the team were positive.

B/B- range Elements of the project are considered good in that they fulfilled all assignment criteria,
but they could have benefited from more creativity, risk-taking, planning, organization, and/or effective
distribution. Students may have more-evidently applied knowledge gained throughout course about
digital storytelling in inventing, designing, and implementing the community storytelling event.
Students' Project Doc might also have offered stronger evidence of organization and development
throughout all stages of production and organization. Feedback from peers on your contributions to
the team indicated lack of preparation, contribution, flexibility, and/or behaviors toward others on
more than one account.

C range Elements of the project are passable and often promising, but have multiple key areas that
need major improvement to strengthen design and implementation. Overall, the project could have
benefited from more creativity, risk-taking, planning, organization, and/or effective distribution.
Students may have needed to utilize knowledge gained throughout course about digital storytelling in
inventing, designing, and implementing the community event. Students' Project Doc might also have
offered stronger evidence of organization and development throughout all stages of production and
organization. Some deadlines were met and one or more of these plans could have been more
developed, better organized, and/or clearly articulated. Feedback from peers on your contributions to
the team indicated lack of preparation, contribution, flexibility, and/or behaviors toward others on
more than two accounts.

D level Elements of the project show potential with major revisions. The project may have lacked a
clear focus, a well-thought out distribution plan, and creative distribution strategies. Applicability of
content from course readings and discussion in digital storytelling may have been lacking. Students'
Project Doc might have been underutilized or developed throughout all stages, signifying a lack of
sustained organization. Many deadlines were not met and when met may have benefited from more
development, better organization, and/or clear articulation. In addition, not all reports were evidently
not well-planned, suffered in delivery, and/or were not productive. Feedback from peers on your
contributions to the team indicated lack of preparation, contribution, flexibility, and behaviors toward
others on several accounts.

F level Elements of the project produced too little activity as reflected in the Google Doc. Feedback
from peers on your contributions to the team indicated severe problems with your preparation,
contribution, flexibility, and/or behaviors toward others.