A Research on Multimodal Self-Directed English Listening Teaching Model

This article takes listening teaching of a university in Inner Mongolian as an example, compares traditional listening teaching mode, which only uses audio resources with multimodal self-directed teaching mode, examines learners’ acceptance to the new teaching mode and its teaching effect through questionnaires and tests, and discusses what effects multimodal self-directed listening teaching has on learners’ listening level and multi-literacy ability. It has been found that this new teaching mode is popular with most of the students, can help effectively improve learners self-directed learning and effectively enhance listeners’ listening level and multi-literacy ability

Technology-Enriched Universal Design for Learning Strategies in Postsecondary Education

While studies on technology professional development (PD) report the need for faculty to remain current in their knowledge of instructional technologies, relatively few promote the capabilities of such technologies to assist faculty in implementing Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles (Higbee, 2008; Levy, 2009; Wilson & Wright, 2011). Likewise, very few studies have highlighted the perceptions of faculty about UDL and how these perceptions influence practice and the implementation of such principles. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of faculty who had participated in an online module on technology-enriched UDL strategies, and how this participation impacted perceptions about the needs of students with disabilities (SWDs), the application of technology to meet the needs of SWDs, and the application of technology-enriched UDL strategies to meet the needs of SWDs. A case study was conducted with five faculty members who taught lower-division undergraduate language courses. This study revealed faculty perceptions related to the following three themes: awareness of learner variability and challenges faced by SWDs, benefits and barriers of applying technology-enriched UDL strategies, and the impact of UDL-focused PD on perception and practice. Findings suggested, after participating in an online module on technology-enriched UDL strategies, participants perceived: (a) SWDs need to be accommodated, but may not always disclose learning needs, (b) SWDs and all learners need materials in multiple, accessible formats, (c) technology reduces barriers to learning, (d) technology enables customization and self-regulation of learning, and (e) technology-enriched UDL strategies are beneficial. Findings also indicated the online module may have had an impact on these perceptions

Generating multimedia presentations: from plain text to screenplay

In many Natural Language Generation (NLG) applications, the output is limited to plain text – i.e., a string of words with punctuation and paragraph breaks, but no indications for layout, or pictures, or dialogue. In several projects, we have begun to explore NLG applications in which these extra media are brought into play. This paper gives an informal account of what we have learned. For coherence, we focus on the domain of patient information leaflets, and follow an example in which the same content is expressed first in plain text, then in formatted text, then in text with pictures, and finally in a dialogue script that can be performed by two animated agents. We show how the same meaning can be mapped to realisation patterns in different media, and how the expanded options for expressing meaning are related to the perceived style and tone of the presentation. Throughout, we stress that the extra media are not simple added to plain text, but integrated with it: thus the use of formatting, or pictures, or dialogue, may require radical rewording of the text itself

Composition, Computers, and COVID-19: The Roles of Multimodal Composition and Digital Technology in the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The shift toward remote and online learning brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on teaching multimodal composition at all levels. Part of this shift towards rethinking multimodal composition came from the challenges of moving what would be in person classes online. Drawing on the New London Group’s definition of multimodality (1996), this thesis examines the relationship between remote learning throughout the pandemic and the modalities and technologies used by composition instructors and students in first-year writing. Using interviews with six first-year writing instructors from a private university, this project explores how instructors encouraged students to compose multimodal texts and the contexts in which students composed during the pandemic. Ultimately, this thesis emphasizes the value of multimedia production as a flexible resource in remote composition classrooms for encouraging rhetorical thinking and facilitating student collaboratio

Integrating multimodal composition techniques in first-year writing courses: Theory and praxis

The body of this thesis seeks to explore the costs and benefits of instituting a multimodal composition pedagogy within first-year writing. Contested definitions of multimodality and multimedia provide a background for delving into the printed-word dominated discourse, where image, sound, and animation are all placed in a subordinate position relative to that of the written word. Within, many theories of multimodality and composition pedagogy are placed in contrast with one another in an attempt to discern connections in the body of already published theoretical material. The primary method of data collection for this document involved the investigation of secondary sources already available within the realm of rhetoric and composition scholarship. Primary journals consulted include Computers and Composition, College Composition and Communication, College English, and Kairos, along with numerous books covering the topic of multimodal curricula development. In all, the primary findings of this thesis find that there is an increasing need to consider the incorporation of multimodal elements within first-year writing courses. In order to promote the goal of knowledge transfer between students’ experiences in first-year writing and other courses, the materials taught must be relevant to the cultural communication norms of the current day. In particular, a new focus must center on the development of multiliteracies within first-year writing, in order to assist students gain the theoretical knowledge and practical skills that will best suit their future endeavors. As assessment and course development remain two of the largest obstacles in allowing for multimodal composition, special attention must be paid to these areas. Concrete guides, along with practical assessment rubrics are currently available, but these works largely remain in the minority alongside theoretical considerations of how multimodality might be incorporated within the classroom

Fifth-grade students’ digital retellings and the Common Core: Modal use and design intentionality

Multimodal composing is part of the Common Core vision of the twenty-first-century student. Two descriptive studies were conducted of fifth-grade students’ digital folktale retellings. Study 1 analyzed 83 retellings in relation to the types and frequencies of modal use, such as image, sound, movement, and written text, as well as their retelling accuracy. Students composed within a scaffolded digital composing environment which comprised the PowerPoint authoring/presentation tool and a researcher-developed story frame. All students’ retellings included writing and visual design, 80% included animation, and 70% included sound. Retelling accuracy scores averaged 54%. Study 2 was conducted with a new group of 14 fifth-grade students who had previous digital retelling experience. The retellings included the same types of modal use, but at a higher level of frequency. In their retrospective design interviews, students expressed design intentionality and a metamodal awareness of how modes work together to create an appealing story

Computer Entertainment Technologies for the Visually Impaired: An Overview

Over the last years, works related to accessible technologies have increased both in number and in quality. This work presents a series of articles which explore different trends in the field of accessible video games for the blind or visually impaired. Reviewed articles are distributed in four categories covering the following subjects: (1) video game design and architecture, (2) video game adaptations, (3) accessible games as learning tools or treatments and (4) navigation and interaction in virtual environments. Current trends in accessible game design are also analysed, and data is presented regarding keyword use and thematic evolution over time. As a conclusion, a relative stagnation in the field of human-computer interaction for the blind is detected. However, as the video game industry is becoming increasingly interested in accessibility, new research opportunities are starting to appear

iPads and Paintbrushes: An Exploratory Case Study of Integrating Digital Media as Placed Resources into an Intergenerational Art Class

This exploratory case study integrated digital media as placed resources into an intergenerational art class. Its goals were to generate knowledge of how to bring young children and elders together to expand their opportunities for meaning making and seeing themselves in affirming ways so as to generate transferable understanding of digitally-enhanced multimodal curricula across the lifespan. Participants included 15 elders and 9 pre-schoolers. Focusing on how the digital media were used and with what implications for participants’ literacy and identity options as well as relationship building, data were collected through ethnographic methods, and a qualitative thematic analysis with multimodal elements was conducted. The study found that the digital media were used in tangent with non-digital media for the creation of digital portfolios, digital text-making, and teacher- and participant-led referencing for text-making. Findings suggest that the integration of digital media enhanced literacy options by providing new tools for meaning-making and expanded identity options by highlighting achievements and promoting intergenerational relationships. The study contributes to literatures concerning literacy curriculum and practices across the life course

Towards a dialogic theory of new media literacy

Since the work of Gunther Kress, Cynthia Selfe, Anne Wysocki, the New London Group and others, many composition instructors are integrating the study and practice of new communication technologies into their pedagogy. This burgeoning amalgam of fields, which I call new media literacy studies, is heavily invested in extending first-year composition and literacy instruction to address the growing ubiquity of information communication technologies. This thesis begins with an exploration of the scope of these new media literacy theories, and argues for a new media literacy theory grounded in the dialogic theories of Mikhail Bakhtin and the Sophists. By bringing a broad spectrum of new media literacy theories into a dialogue with Bakhtinian theory and Sophistic theory, this thesis develops and explores a new literacy theory specifically addressing multimodal representational practice. Finally, this thesis describes a pedagogy built on this theoretical framework. The dialogic pluralism of this pedagogy could foster an environment wherein students are prepared to deploy a wide variety of communication strategies-in multiple modes-so as to meet the demands of an assortment of rhetorical situations