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Here's my blurb: If you decide to do a Digital Storytelling project in your ESL class, how do you go about evaluating it? What kind of rubrics do you use? This site discusses 16 types of communication (or genres) and 9 traits for scoring. It provides example rubrics. In fact, it provides a pretty neat rubric customization tool. There are suggestions and sample lesson plans for both formal and informal evaluation, and peer review activities. Quite nice! The resources section contains lots of PDFs about incorporating digital stories into the curriculum. Here's their blurb: DigiTales.us provides ideas, resources and inspiration for families, individuals, schools, organizations, corporations, churches and everyone else ready to discover the power and magic of merging the art of storytelling with the enchantment of using digital tools.

A PDF chapter where Son explains the 15 criteria in this model for evaluating language learning websites. Checklist at the end of the document.

This document includes sample checklists for evaluating CALL courseware and websites from the ICT4LT

We'll be looking at these checklists in class.

While browsing the language learning resources from various universities, I came across these links for international broadcasts on Indiana University's website. There is also a link to SCOLA, a non-profit that provides authentic foreign language learning resources. You can get a SCOLA app or web subscription. In terms of evaluating foreign language news sites, I'd say to use similar criteria as you would in evaluating other classroom activities. Does the content relate to class material and/or student interests? Is the level appropriate (vocabulary, pace, etc)? Is the length appropriate, and can you justify using class time to watch or read this material?

"Learn real English language from English speakers around the world on elllo with free listening, reading, and vocabulary activities and downloads." Elllo is a library of over 1200 ESL listening passages. One really nice feature of the site is representation of many varieties of World Englishes (Inner, Outer, and Expanding Circle speakers are featured). The site is fairly low-frills, but I find that to be a good thing- it's very easy to go directly to what you want and use a listening passage for your own purposes. I wrote a longer evaluation for my CALL blog this week, which you can find here: http://dancallblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/evaluating-call-resources.html

When I taught Listening and Speaking, I found ello.org to be a really good source for listening passages about all kinds of subjects.

Checklists for evaluating language learning software by the National Foreign Language Resource Center in Hawaii. The focus is on courseware, but the information is still valuable.

Here's my blurb: This website, hosted by the University of Houston, explores the educational uses of digital storytelling. The site contains practical information regarding different digital storytelling programs, and provides "how to" activities for writing scripts, designing storyboards, and recording audio. There is also lesson planning information, copyright information, and a discussion of rubrics for assessment and evaluation. Here's there blurb: About this Site The Goals of this Website The primary goal of the Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling website is to serve as a useful resource for educators and students who are interested in how digital storytelling can be integrated into a variety of educational activities.

If you do a digital storytelling project with your students, the Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling site linked to a contest for K-12 students to submit their stories and win cool awards such as iPods and has contests for the best stories, and your students could potentially win awards, such as iPod Minis and iPod Nanos, and scholarships up to $8000. Pretty cool motivator, don't you think? Here's the link: http://www.distco.org/

Found this interesting blog post about how you can pretty easily use corpora to validate claims about idiom frequency. I think this could be a useful technique for evaluating certain kinds of textbooks as well as selecting fixed expressions for your own teaching content/materials.