Creating Producers of New Knowledge

        The push for change within the composition course continues to move forward creating open-minded producers of new knowledge. (LIU student teachers are pictured).


          A Multimodal Task-Based Framework for Composing, by Jody Shipka begins with the idea that students have a rich and vast imagination and the use of multimodal composing can only help to draw this side out of 21^st century students.  She is adamant that both the writing / composing process, as well as delivery and reception of the writing produced should be considered. A goal-oriented activity and complex communicative tasks are terms she uses in this article, and she states that the composition instructor makes important decisions in this following passage:          
          “Robert Connors called it the ‘inescapable question’ and one that composition instructors must address prior to committing to the kinds of assignments they will provide for students: Should [one] emphasize honest, personal writing? Stress academic, argumentative, or practical subjects? Or try somehow to create a balance between these discourse aims?”
          Shipka proposes a multimodal task-based framework and goal-directed approach for composition to assist in enlarging the student's flexibility - rhetorical, material and methodological. She also shares:
          “Instructors working within this framework are still responsible for designing tasks in accordance with course goals and objectives. Yet, again, rather than predetermining the specific materials and methodologies that students employ in service of those goals, tasks are structured in ways that ask students to assume responsibility for attending to the following: asking students to produce an account of their goals and choices reminds them of the importance of assessing rhetorical contexts, setting goals, and making purposeful choices.”
          Although students (this writer included) sometimes find multimodal tasks challenging
because of the technologies needed to learn, and methodologies ...the end result though creates a broader scope and more open-minded producers of new knowledge. I appreciate the assignment produced by Shipka's student in which the student prefaces the presentation with these words:
          “Imagine you are sitting in an empty classroom with just one desk in the center and a ticking clock in the background. The room is drafty and cold with very dim light. It is eight o'clock [and] the score from this test will determine your future by deciding which school you will be accepted to. You tried to study for the test but your friends, your parents, and your annoying siblings continually distracted you. [...] You ended up only studying for an hour before you fell asleep, and now you are only half awake to take the exam. [...] When you dig out your pencil the tip is broken. You search for a pencil sharpener but there isn't one in the room so you have to ask the proctor for an-other one. They hand you a stubby pencil with no eraser and tell you to sit down because the exam is starting.”
          Every student and professional has experienced scenarios similar to this one. The point being made here though  is that multimodal tasks are not easier for students, but more thoughts and actions are needed to complete them. The reality is that more goals must be set and accomplished.
          “…The fact that they are drawing upon multiple semiotic resources as they compose work suggests that students are doing something that is at once more and other than writing (i.e., placing and arranging words on a page or screen). I would argue that students who are called upon to choose among and later to order, align, and/or transform the various resources they find at hand tend to work in ways that more closely resemble the ways choreographers or engineers do,” Shipka said. 
          The reality is also that better work is being produced when a multimodal element is incorporated. A greater appreciation for the art of revision, reinvention and redevelopment is garnered from the following lessons learned and the knowledge gained through multimodal composing. Below is a partial list Shipka includes focusing on the benefits of a multimodal composition approach taught to students.
          Focusing on a purpose * Responding to the needs of different audiences * Responding appropriately to different kinds of rhetorical situations * Using conventions of format and structure appropriate to the rhetorical situation * Adopting appropriate voice, tone, and level of formality * Understanding how genres shape reading and writing * Writing in several genres * Integrating their own ideas with those of others * Understanding the relationships among language, knowledge, and power * Understanding the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes * Using a variety of technologies to address a range of audiences * Learning common formats for different kinds of texts * Controlling such surface features as syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling…
          Pamela Takayoshi and Cynthia L Selfe share a similar sentiment in Chapter 1 Thinking about Multimodality. Writers have computer technology at their access and therefore more control; they are able to reach far beyond the traditional essay format for expression. This essay states:
          “…They could think in increasingly broad ways about texts—not only about pages, words, layout, and design, but also about still and moving visual imagery (photos, photo-editing programs, movie-authoring programs, animation programs) and aural components of communication (music, audio recordings, sounds).”
          These authors are insistent that students need technologically advanced skills for rereading and composing in multiple modalities within their diverse worlds of school, community and workplace along with during culturally related activities. The definition of composition is changing to mirror literacy practices in new digital communication environments. Therefore it is up to the instructor to help enlighten their students these authors state below:
          “Instructors of composition need to teach students not only how to read and interpret such texts from active and critical perspectives, they also need to teach students how to go beyond the consumption of such texts—learning how to compose them for a variety of purposes and audiences.”
          This essay also states that being emotionally moved by composition is more readily available through a multimodal composition – an interesting concept explained more in the essay - below: 
          “Multimodal composition may bring the often neglected third appeal-pathos-back into composition classes. … Students authoring multimodal compositions often demonstrate a strong awareness and understanding of how music and images are used as appeals in arguments and, further, how effective these modalities can be in creating and establishing meaning.” 
          Bottom line takeaway from both readings: students are able to learn a larger range of strategies, options and approaches to composing, as well as for life’s difficulties in general through the use of visual and aural modalities …and folks are forever enriched through the process of this progressive education.