Multimodal Assignment Research Articles

Welcoming Writers, Welcoming Instructors

Canadian scholars increasingly recognize the importance of diverse and inclusive writing pedagogies to welcome students of various races, languages, orientations, genders, and abilities. Yet, if instructors do not feel welcomed into using the tools of antiracist and decolonial writing pedagogies, they often will not use them, and many feel very new to the task. Using microlevel language policies (in both direct and indirect ways) can be a helpful way to integrate these pedagogies into writing instruction effectively; they can help instructors to both signal and live out their commitments to inclusive writing pedagogies. In this paper, I will use analytic and reflective methodologies to explore my assignment of an argumentative paragraph and the processes around it to demonstrate some simple, effective ways writing instructors can integrate antiracist and decolonial writing pedagogies into their teaching. Ultimately, I demonstrate that multimodal assignments can encourage linguistic, digital, and textual diversity in student writing and are thus vital to inclusive pedagogy.

Instructional Note: Creating Digital Research Posters in First-Year Writing Classes

This Instructional Note provides information on having students create research posters to support oral presentations in their first-year writing classes. Creating digital posters connects to multimodal assignments and provides transferable skills.

Embodying intercultural communicative competence in French L2 video reflections: Illustrating skills, knowledge, and attitudes

Research has long touted and recently confirmed the importance of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) — the ability to appropriately communicate with those from diverse sociocultural and linguistic backgrounds — in second language (L2) teaching and learning. Additionally, while multimodal course materials have contributed to learners’ ICC, the link between students’ embodied modes (gestures, facial expressions, body movements) and ICC remains under-explored. Building on ICC and the social semiotic theory of multimodality, this study blends multimodal transcription and conversation analysis to examine how 73 university undergraduate learners of L2 French used embodied modes in 188 asynchronous video reflections and how these modes accompanied demonstrations of ICC skills, knowledge, and attitudes. Findings indicate that gestures and facial expressions indicated students’ demonstrations of the ICC skills of observing, analyzing/interpreting, evaluating, relating, listening, questioning, researching, and problematizing. Further, embodied modes demonstrated students’ retrieval and communication of cultural and sociolinguistic knowledge. This study has implications for online language learning and enhancing ICC through virtual multimodal assignments.

An exploratory study of English as a Second Language students’ “citation” patterns in multimodal writing

This study explores how English as a Second Language (ESL) students make reference to outside sources and incorporate textual repetition using multimodal resources in a video project. ESL students’ source use and citation practices have been studied extensively in the context of traditional text-based writing. However, little attention is paid to the issue of making citations in multimodal writing, despite the fact that multimodal writing has been a popular topic in recent decades. The current study bridges this gap by analyzing the cases of multimodal citation in 14 videos created by ESL students in a first-year composition course, accompanied by insights from two students. The analysis yields three patterns of incorporating sources—concurrently afforded, verbally afforded, and visually afforded citations—that employ different combinations of visual and audio resources. Direct quotations are incorporated as part of the narration as well as the visual representation. These multimodal citations and quotations fulfill three broad rhetorical functions: attribution, exemplification, and establishing links between sources. There is also evidence of knowledge transfer across genre and cultural boundaries. This study provides insights into how modal affordances could be leveraged to acknowledge propositional content in creative and rhetorically effective ways. It provides pedagogical ideas for designing multimodal assignments to engage students in the critical discussion of audience, intertextuality, and discourse community.

A Mighty Cooperative

A Mighty Cooperative

Communication as Design: How a Multimodal Assignment Establishes Communication’s Role in Engineering Design and Provides Stability to a Large Course System

This teaching practice paper describes and reflects on the Engineering Observation, a multimodal communication assignment in a first-year engineering communication and design course. The assignment is designed to accomplish two major goals. First, it fills a pedagogical gap by establishing multimodality and engineering discourse as the foundations of communications instruction and practice in the course, while also establishing communication as an integral part of—and not separate from—design practice. Second, it helps solve problems stemming from the complexity and scale common to large design courses by contributing to the systematic stability of the course. This second goal depends on framing such a course as a system, from the “ecological perspective.” These dual goals are found to be inherently connected, and deliberate care has been given to ensure that they are aligned, mutually supportive, and as effective as possible while ensuring that the assignment supports, and does not negatively impact, connected aspects of the course. Finally, I assess the assignment in its current iteration and consider future directions for the assignment itself as well as this research.

Transport modelling of the ferry network in the aegean archipelagos and its airline alternatives: Analytics, visualisation, and insights

The objectives of this study are to analyze, explain, visualise, and deliver insights into the passenger ferry transport system of the Aegean Archipelagos. The strong points of this system, its weaknesses, and the competition and complementarity from air are discussed. Policy testing and new configurations are offered through a transport simulation model developed for a specific area. An example is given for the efficiency of new connections through two insular minor transfer hubs aimed at improving network integration and interconnection among the islands of Aegean Archipelagos. The transport system of the area is described using vast information gathered and processed adequately in a detailed transport model. Transport and tourism statistics integrated into the model were used to estimate travellers to the islands segmented into domestic and foreign tourists during the peak summer season. Advanced public transport modelling techniques and multimodal assignment algorithms were used to simulate trip interchanges and to identify the important transfer hubs of the area. Reference surveys on mobility patterns from mobile phone records and on travel preferences were combined to complete the modelling process and for cross-evaluation.

Case studies of integration between activity-based demand models and multimodal assignment

Aiming at supporting decision makers in transport policy choices in an increasingly complex sequence of activities of our real day-life, this paper investigates the integration between Activity Based Model (ABM) and transport assignment by focusing on the multimodal demand-supply interaction to be used in more advanced simulation models. The consistency between ABM and assignment models is studied proposing a methodology that can be applied to large real size networks. A new formalization of integration of ABM with multimodal assignment is proposed, oriented to an easy-to-use and computationally faster application. The interaction between different modes sharing the same network facilities is considered, as well as crowding (public transport) and congestion (road) phenomena.The application to different real case studies in Qatar and in Rome are presented to show the promising results of the proposed approach for a better transport simulation in urban areas.

Writing Process Photo Essay

This article describes and reflects on experiences teaching students to compose a “Writing Process Photo Essay” in the context of an upper-division college writing course that satisfies a campus-wide writing requirement. As the culmination of a quarter-long student inquiry into their own writing processes, this multimodal assignment asks students to combine text and images to help them reflect on the environments, tools, habits and routines that surround their writing activity. This assignment takes its inspiration from calls for renewed scholarly attention to material and embodied aspects of writing process. In the end, this assignment creates opportunities for students to recognize, reflect, and reimagine their own writing activity in school contexts and beyond.

ON DEMAND: Designing, Scaffolding, and Evaluating Multimodal Assignments (15 mins)

“Literacies are not static” (Selfe 84). Teaching towards the future means helping students acquire critical literacy in content which relies on multiple communication modes such as visual and auditory or linguistic and spatial. Many faculty feel underprepared to assign multimodal projects or unsure of the pedagogical value of exploring multimodal literacy within the context of their discipline.In my 15 minute video, I will tackle the biggest concerns that faculty have regarding multimodal assignments including the pedagogical basis for assigning multimodal projects, the role of digital and analog technologies in multimodal work, strategies for scaffolding multimodal work, assigning multimodal work that is ethical and accessible, how to keep student diversity and privacy in mind in multimodal assignment design, and possibilities for evaluating multimodal projects. Linked to my presentation, I will provide participants with an activity packet in which they can explore potential ideas or revise existing ideas for multimodal assignments in their classes. Participants will begin by thinking about the kinds of multimodal content that is produced and consumed by and for members and organizations related in their disciplines. Participants will select one idea from this list and proceed through a series of activities designed to help them think through how they would design an assignment for their students to produce this kind of discipline-specific multimodal project. Participants will be encouraged to think about the options of digital and analog technologies, consider how they might scaffold this assignment to include parameters for using ethically sourced materials and producing accessible content, and to evaluate their assignment idea in light of our diverse student populations and in light of student privacy issues.

Integration between activity-based demand models and multimodal assignment: Some empirical evidences

Aiming at supporting decision makers in transport policy choices, transport models used for decades the trip-based approach for travel demand forecasts. This approach, despite suited to peak hours modelling where systematic trips are predominant, suffers the limits of not being related to the sequence of activities usually undertaken in real day-life. Differently, in the Activity Based Models (ABM) the travel demand is explicitly modelled as the result of individuals’ involvement in different activities in different times and locations. The use of such models is recommended when complex trip chains connected to the multiple daily activities that characterise today's life have to be taken into account, even if the integration with other sub-models (particularly with the assignment) within the whole transport modelling procedure has to be carefully considered.For this reason, this paper focuses on the integration between ABM and transport assignment by investigating the multimodal demand-supply interaction. Specifically, the consistency between ABM and assignment models is studied proposing a methodology that can be applied to large real size networks. It is based on a multimodal static equilibrium assignment, which is easy-to-use and less time consuming with respect to a Dynamic Traffic Assignment (DTA), allowing a better estimation of the modal splits between alternative transport modes. Such a model also considers (road) congestion and (transit) crowding phenomena, as well as the multimodal network performances are estimated by taking into account the interaction between different modes sharing the same network facilities.The goodness of the proposed approach is investigated through the convergence analysis of both the entire integration procedure and its individual components (ABM and assignment) for a better transport simulation in urban areas.The application to an urban multimodal network of real-size dimensions (Rome) is presented to show the promising results of this research.

Using open educational resources to empower student creators

As students are asked to complete multimodal assignments in their higher education courses, librarians can guide students to the use of open educational resources (OER), as many librarians are already teaching students about copyright and how to respect intellectual property rights. Two instructional librarians designed a one-shot lesson for first-year composition students around the use of open resources, where the goal of instruction was for students to be empowered with their creative rights and to use the open resources available to them as creators.

Multimodal assignments in higher education: Implications for multimodal writing tasks for L2 writers

This study investigated the types of multimodal writing tasks that undergraduate students in academic contexts (i.e., degree-pursuing undergraduate students at a US university) are required to complete. With an assumption that undergraduate courses across disciplines are one target language use domain for international students in ESL courses in tertiary education, we interviewed seven professors in Humanities, Education, Business, and Engineering and analyzed 104 multimodal writing tasks we identified from 161 syllabi across the disciplines. We report parameters that can be used to develop multimodal writing tasks in EAP classes and for research on multimodal composing processes: 1) goals and instruction of multimodal writing: disciplinary versus creative expression; 2) linguistic mode in multimodal texts: written and spoken words; and 3) tasks of multimodal writing: individual versus collaborative work. Based on the results, we discuss pedagogical implications regarding the design of multimodal writing tasks for L2 academic writers.

Feature: All Truly Great Thoughts Are Conceived While Walking1”: Academic Inclusion through Multimodal Walkabouts

This article explores the value of including creative assignments in the composition classroom. Specifically, it demonstrates how a multimodal assignment can help struggling students develop the confidence to succeed on creative assignments and on subsequent more traditional academic assignments.

Improving Multimodal Assignments through Collaborative Reflection/Revision

Multimodal assignments, while dismissed by some as "creative," are becoming more widely accepted in college composition classrooms. In fall 2016, Wichita State University assigned a multimodal assignment in English 101 for the first time. This essay traces the revision and remaking of this multimodal assignment, reviewing the purposes of multimodal assignments and the benefits of a reflective and collaborative pedagogical practice.

Integrating multimodal technologies with VARK strategies for learning and teaching EFL presentation: An investigation into learners’ achievements and perceptions of the learning process

Successful oral presentation effectually involves multi-faceted training of listening, writing, and nonverbal delivery besides speaking orally, which calls for a systematical holistic/multimodal approach. However, a multimodal learning environment for fostering EFL learners’ presentation development remains virtually unexplored. This study employed multimodal strategies adopted from the VARK model (visual, aural, reading/writing, and kinesthetic/gestural) with the support of digital audio, video, and speech visualization technologies in an English presentation course at a university in Taiwan. Two EFL classes served respectively as the experimental group with a technology-mediated multimodal approach and the control group with a traditional oral approach. Specifically, this research evaluated the experimental participants’ oral performance and explored their perceptions of this technology-mediated multimodal approach and its advantages and disadvantages as identified by the participants. Results from independent t-tests showed marginal significant progress of presentation performance in the experimental group. Descriptive statistics from the perception survey and content analysis of students’ reflective responses indicated that the participants were overwhelmingly positive about technology-supported multimodal activities implemented in the oral training course but encountered psychological and technological challenges when producing multimodal assignments. Theoretically, the results support the extension of multimodal theory to EFL oral presentation education. Practically the study informs EFL presentation instructors of the validity of technological-enhanced VARK strategies for learning and teaching EFL presentation. The research results also bear significant implications for the necessity of learner training on technology practices when pedagogy with the integration of multimodal technologies into EFL speech education is implemented.

Through the Mind's Eye: Using Multimodal Assignments to Build Engagement and Comprehension

AbstractMost people have struggled with reading in one situation or another, depending on their appreciation for the content, their prior experiences, and the texts. This department column shares ways for educators to help literacy learners unlock their potential with instruction anchored in their skills, knowledge, ways of learning, interests, and attitudes.

Queries

Queries

Teaching Multimodal Literacy Through Reading and Writing Graphic Novels

Scholarship suggests that writing teachers and instructors looking to integrate multimodal composition into their secondary or post-secondary classrooms should consider graphic novels as a mentor text for multimodal literacy. To help those pedagogues unfamiliar with graphic novels, we offer three titles—The Photographer, Operation Ajax, and Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow—students have responded positively to. Herein we offer a summary for each text, a discussion of their uses to teach multimodal literacy, a range of multimodal assignments to pair with each text, and a variety of assessment methods.

Reflections on Asia: Borrowing Lessons from the Humanities in Social Science Coursework

What lessons can political science classes borrow from the humanities? This paper presents the results of a multi-year study on teaching about Asia as part of a general education program. Given the challenges of meeting common learning outcomes while also teaching discipline-specific lessons, political science courses often underperformed in assessments when compared to benchmark expectations. While our initial conclusion—that a greater focus on multimodal assignments would promote deeper learning and reflection—proved unfounded, explicitly emphasizing students’ reflection on their own process of democratic engagement, in comparison to that of their counterparts in Asia, did seem to address the shortcomings of the previous approaches by giving students context and guidance in their understanding of how democracy works at home and abroad. Data from reflective essays, collected over two years, provide evidence for this finding.