Thoughts on Multimodal Assignments

As I read through the assignments in the second chapter of Selfe's Multimodal Composition, I thought to myself that I had never been given an assignment anything like what she was describing in my four years pursuing three undergraduate degrees. Not only was I never required to do a multimodal assignment of this nature in my writing classes, but I even took a class called educational technology, in which I created a Power Point presentation, hyperlinked document, and web quest. In the social sciences department, though, where I pursued my degrees in political science and international relations, I had one professor who allowed a great deal of freedom on the assignments. I took one class of his that was a WWII trip to Europe, and as the final for this course, we had to complete a project of our own choosing. I put together a sort of web site that featured a blog (my daily journal that we were requried to keep), photos from the trip, and other bits of text wrapped up in a single site I created using iWeb. I remember the professor really liking my presentation. But this is still nothing like what Selfe describes.

As I read through and view these assignments, I think that there would be many challenges. First, as was brought up in class last week, I am concerned that the students would be befuddled by the technology. While Selfe acknowledges that this is a primary concern, I am not sure she really understands the magnitude of it. I get frustrated during some semesters because my students all have a lot of problems using Blackboard. Some don't know how to use Microsoft Word. I always feel like the time I spend teaching the technology takes away from teaching and learning time in class.

On the other hand, I do believe these tools are ones that students need to learn how to use, and where better than in context? I wish my professors had required me to use them in college. I am just beginning to expermient with video on a few of the sites I maintain. If I had been introduced to the technology earlier, I think I would be much more technologically literate than I am now.

Another reason that I lead toward implementing these assignments (regardless of their challenges), is because of the grand variety of modifications I see possible. In her text, Selfe points to collaberative projects, assignment sequencing, writing about audio and video, and using audio and video as an individual alternative. Of these, I found the most beneficial to be the sequencing of assignments. Slowly building old technology on new technology is a form of scaffolding that I think works especially well in this case. I also think it might not be possible to integrate all of these technologies into one class. However, using the scaffolding technique, going at a slow pace, will likely ease this concern of mine.

I also think student choice, as Selfe brings up several times, is an important component. Students should be faced with the real-world task of deciding which type of communication is best and where. This is the challenge that faces me as I continue to develop SADC's web site. I am asking myself, which topics should be based in video? Which should be text? However, I think that this could allow students to work wtih only the modality they feel most comfortable in, something I think needs to change. Students need to be stretched. This is something that I believe Trupe would agree with. In her article, she discusses the "rich possibilities," meaning rhetorical possibilities, that students have in front of them when they create electronic texts. Choosing the medium of expression is a rhetorical choice in its own, and the electronic option allows students to be more fully engaged (meaning purposeful, thoughtful, and intentional) when they choose this medium.

As a student of multimodal composition myself, I 've been struggling! I downloaded Audacity and recorded a couple of tracks of me singing songs that I sing to my daughter. (Don't worry, I won't post them.) Then I tried to make a movie with pictures of my daughter, but somehow I've deleted the program and can't figure out how to install the plugin! This is the exact issue I fear I would have with my students!