Evaluating multimodal literacies in student blogs

Abstract

This research presents ways in which high school students used the multimodal and interactive affordances of blogs to create, organize, communicate and participate on an educational blog. Their actions demonstrated how plural modes of literacy are infiltrating digital environments and reshaping literacy and learning. Multimodal blogging practices of participants broaden the discourse about educational blogs to include an understanding of blogs as media-rich platforms in which learners operate with plural modes of literacy to construct meaning, communicate and participate. Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic • The potential for blogs to enrich classroom communication, participation and learning has been established. • Existing research has mixed findings on the value of blogs in facilitating reflective learning. • Multimodal dimension of blogs has been evaluated in some studies.What this paper adds • Proposed a wider, multimodal lens through which to interpret learning and literacy activities conducted on social media such as blogs. • Documented multimodal literacy practices on blogs that supported learning. • Identified the positive impact of digital forms of participation and interaction such as following and viewing.Implications for practice and/or policy • Broadened the discourse on blogging from text-based postings to a framework cognizant of the multimodal basis of social media. • Illuminated the need to make use of digital forms of communication, participation and interaction when establishing educational projects. • Suggested a need for education policy makers to consider a wider spectrum of literacy practices when constructing curricula and standards. IntroductionThree Grade 11 English classes were set the task of developing a short multimedia video on a topic with social relevance. The teacher required that students organize and share their work for the assignment on a free blogging site; she posted directions, outlining a sequence of postings to guide project preparation. The teacher saw the blogs as tools to assist with organization, support reflective learning, monitor progress, and provide timely assistance throughout the moviemaking task. As the project proceeded, it became obvious that the students had a wider understanding of blogging activities. The participants engaged with the text-based postings, as outlined by the instructor. They also posted personal information and gathered multimedia artifacts, reconstituting these materials in ways useful to the construction of the video on a socially relevant theme. In addition, bloggers used digital tools to participate and interact in ways that went beyond the boundaries of text-based postings. The focus of this research is to identify and make sense of literacy practices initiated by students, to contextualize them in terms of what is known about plural modes of literacy, and to reflect on their meaning for teaching and learning. It builds on a preliminary report that examined how literacy is represented multimedia environments

A critical review of the literature of social media’s affordances in the classroom

“…Many of the earliest studies of social media in the classroom focused on interactive writing websites, or more specifically, blogs (short for web logs). Blogs are two-way interaction tools that allow for people to collaborate, communicate, cooperate, and participate with one another (O'Byrne and Murrell, 2014;Shirky, 2008). Persistently, blogs continue to be the most commonly studied forms of social media in the classroom, perhaps because they closely mirror traditional classroom literacy practices, and as bounded texts, they may be easier to study than some of the literacy practices surrounding more open platforms .…”

“…These kinds of participatory tools (along with comments) allow users to see how much attention a post is receiving. Furthermore, commenting can allow for the post to become a multi-way communication between users (O'Byrne and Murrell, 2014;Shirky, 2008;Siemens and Weller, 2011).…”

“…Even though traditional projects are confined to the walls of a classroom, those hosted through social media are both for a larger audience and can connect to other online resources (Edwards-Groves, 2011;Magrino and Sorrell, 2014). Additionally, because of the ability to post comments and have multi-way communication, students can be opened up to more modes (e.g., visual, textual, color, style, design) and channels of communication wherein multiple students or users can communicate more effectively with each other in real-time (O'Byrne and Murrell, 2014;Shirky, 2008;Wandel, 2007).…”

“…Based on this view of literacies, teachers and students should continually refine their ideas of literacies and use classroom tools that can adapt and change to support evolving concepts of them. Thus, some scholars contend that using social media can be an effective, flexible medium to incorporate student-centered communication into the classroom and to support students' multimodal learning and literacy practices (e.g., Ajayi, 2008;Hughes and Morrison, 2014;Mao, 2014;O'Byrne and Murrell, 2014;van Lier, 2004).…”

EFL College Students’ Attitudes towards Mobile Learning

“…Both students and instructors could make use of different applications such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Blogs, etc. (Evans, 2014;O'Byrne & Murrell, 2014;Hsu et al, 2008). This paper is an attempt to investigate college students' attitudes towards the efficiency of deploying mobile devices in language learning contexts.…”