Writing Across Technologies/ Multi-Modal

Digital media are not just ‘external wrapping’ put on a ‘thought package’ to make it seem cool. This is how thinking and learning are increasingly happening in the first place: Everywhere across the curriculum. Todd Taylor, Director of the Writing Program at UNC-Chapel Hill.

The NCTE Position Statement on Multimodal Literacies points out several principles that highlight the importance of writing across technologies and modes. Some of these are paraphrased below,

1. • Communicative modes and composing technologies are rhetorically significant, not just complementary enhancements to texts.
2. • Students often already have picked up a variety of skills for composing multimodal texts and are often capable of learning new skills on their own; though it may be useful to teach certain technical proficiencies, FYW courses should primarily focus on the rhetorical dimensions of multimodal compositions.
3. • Different modes and technologies provide different points of access for students; accessibility, students’ embodiments, and audience should be considered when teaching students to compose in diverse ways.
4. • Multimodal projects, especially when students are using technologies that are new to them, can demand a significant investment of time; it may be helpful to encourage collaboration on such projects and adjust their expectations and time frames.

Below are some additional considerations for multimodal projects: • New ways of writing should not be seen merely as “enhancements” or add-ons to more conventional texts. Students may require extra guidance on how to navigate new technologies. • Multimodal projects can be very complex, and it may be necessary to devote a significant amount of in-class time to practicing and discussing principles of composing through alternative modalities (for example, by giving opportunities to learn visual design skills through activities or by rhetorically analyzing audio texts). • Collaboration may also be important for certain multimodal projects, and instructors will need to consider how to facilitate this. • Multimodal projects need to have clear instructions and goals; there is often no “tacit script” that students have internalized from other writing experiences for what they need to do. • Instructors should have realistic expectations for the work multimodal projects require, and this should be communicated to students. (Students do not always have realistic perceptions of how long such projects will take.) A 60-second video could well be more demanding to produce than six pages of written text. • Depending on how open-ended the assignment is, it may be useful to ask students to write a proposal for their projects, so you can preview and advise them on their projects as they develop. Sometimes it may be easier to respond to a detailed proposal as a draft, or to workshop proposals during peer review, since diverse multimodal projects tend to develop at different rates. • Multimodal assignments should always consider how the use of diverse modes or technologies contributes to students’ rhetorical awareness and abilities; they should go beyond “functional” use of technologies as tools.