Hess, Mickey. "Composing Multimodal Assignments." Multimodal Composition: Resources for Teachers. Ed. Cynthia L. Selfe. New Jersey: Hampton Press, Inc., 2007. 29-38. Print.
Electronic Representation:
http://esteenbeck.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/60/
Comments:
Hess provides a good rationale for including multimodal assignments into the curriculum. Specifically, these assignments can, "expand students' thinking about composing and how this complex set of processes works" (29). Not mentioned here is the expansion of thinking in regards to critical interpretation. I find this particularly relevant because of the mass amounts of multimedia viewed by students every day. These individuals will be able to better navigate the information presented to them on television, the web, on their phones, and more if they have the ability to critically assess what they are seeing and hearing.
Hess' discussion of circulation introduces an authentic audience. I am curious if he observes increased motivation to produce and carefully construct projects as well as improved quality of final products when this audience is introduced.
Laura, you make a strong point about the high volume of multimedia that students view daily and the need to help students learn to more critically interpret and assess the messages in these texts. In response, I am thinking of the Pedersen and Skinner article "Collaborating on Multimodal Projects." Instructors may want to build in activities that feature a selection of texts (digital or otherwise) for students to view and discuss as groups. Discussion questions would ideally encourage students to think critically about the inherent messages of the texts they are viewing. This might lead to a discussion of how they can transfer this knowledge to their own composing processes.
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