Throughout my experience with higher education, or just education in general, nothing was more enjoyable than a multimodal project. Having the ability to demonstrate skills, techniques, or other useful knowledge in a fun, interesting modality was always something I looked forward to. 

 

In my own experience with dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic, specifically, learning and teaching throughout the pandemic, I’ve still looked forward to multimodal projects, however, my enjoyment was often tempered by confusing and intricate prompts that didn’t translate well into an online learning environment. Curious if my own experience was widespread, I questioned my students about their experiences with multimodal assignments in an online learning environment, I was not shocked when a majority of them indicated that their level of enjoyment for this archetype of assignment had diminished due to our newly adopted online teaching methods.

While it may be true that, to a certain extent, general levels of enthusiasm toward school work as a whole have declined due to pandemic-induced online instruction, I specifically wanted to know why multimodal assignments, assignments in which students have some more creative freedom, have soured for so many students. 

 

It’s with this question in mind that I turned to Teaching Multimodal Assignments in OWI Contexts, in search of answers. Upon examining the early parts of the text, I was met with familiar, “tried and true” information and advice on how to teach online writing classes. While this information was certainly helpful, it’s relevance was not necessarily present. However, as the text progressed, the reader was made aware of problems, solutions, and general notes about multimodal assignments within an online writing environment. 

 

To begin, when it comes to multimodal assignments, unlike other work that gets retrofitted to work in an online environment, it’s crucial for us (the instructors) to remember that what we’re teaching is consistent across modalities. Essentially meaning, just because our modality or instruction has changed, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the way we teach multimodal assignments must change as well. This can be seen throughout the following excerpt from  Teaching Multimodal Assignments in OWI Contexts. “Despite the emphasis on the range of new media literacy practices and the tools and technologies that enable those practices, what we teach in the writing classroom, both hybrid and fully online, has remained unchanged…Initially, you want to think about migration, not transformation, when teaching online. Think about what you do well, and then think about how you use various resources to translate those skills to the OW- course” (p. xvii.). For novice teachers of online writing, this advice undoubtedly is sound, particularly because of the need to align any use of technology with larger curricular objectives at both the program and course level”

 

In contrast to other texts reviewed this semester, this advice largely stands in contrast to other sentiments that push for overhauling, restructuring, and creating new ways to explain content. While this one excerpt is far from a deciding factor on how to teach multimodal assignments in an online context, it does, however, begin to allow the professor to better understand how to structure multimodal prompts, assignments, and general teaching principles. This alone alleviates one of my biggest aforementioned struggles with online multimodal assignments: the general complexity, intricacy, or confusion of some newly adapted multimodal prompts. 

 

What happens when students get stuck, confused, or misunderstand information? Surely these occurrences will throw a wrench into a more traditional model of multimodal instruction? This is absolutely correct. We can’t forget about the fact that, in an online setting, students all have different levels of technological experience, access, and ease of use. Unlike in person writing classes where you can easily assist the student on their multimodal project, online writing classes have an added layer of difficulty, as troubleshooting and assisting students can be troublesome. This can clearly be seen throughout another excerpt from Teaching Multimodal Assignments in OWI Contexts. “The greatest challenge to integrating multimodal assignments in the OWC is the lack of consistent access to hardware and software that afford students the opportunity to not just consume digital material but produce it themselves, something frequently tied to fully online students’ place bound status as well as their inevitable differences in sensory ability and socioeconomic status.”

 

Now that we understand how students can often get stuck completing multimodal assignments in online contexts, what can we do to fix this? The solution to this, unlike the previous proposed solution to multimodal assignments as a whole, is to slightly change the ways in which the multimodal project functions, or is completed. Now, this is not backtracking on the previous point that was made in which we demonstrate how a more traditional way of thinking about multimodal texts is likely the way to go in an online setting, instead, we are discussing the process in which the assignment is structured and carried out. 

 

Integrating time for students to examine similar work, peer review, or generally familiarize themselves with the assignment peramteres/the subject of the assignment allows for the student to have consistent interaction with the assignment, despite any lack of experience, or engagement. This can be seen throughout the following from Teaching Multimodal Assignments in OWI Contexts. ““Because students have less familiarity responding to multimodal texts, a good strategy is to have them respond to sample genres prior to such a studio review. Because not all students may have the same level of access or comfort with a particular technology, it is important to design activities that allow all students to participate regardless of how complete their projects are.”

 

In addition to the creation of “studio time” to help students familiarize themselves and interact with the assignment, creating a revised timeline of assignment due dates will aid in the student’s success with the assignment. Essentially, the thought here is that the more traditional, in person timeframes do not always translate well to a digital environment thus causing stress, anxiety, or confusion for students, as seen by the following excerpt from Teaching Multimodal Assignments in OWI Contexts. “ Regardless of the useful content and format suggestions students receive, the normative timeframes for multimodal assignments do not always allow for complete overhaul of work. Therefore, having students create a revision plan summary of the general feedback received, decisions on what to prioritize, and a general timeline for completion can serve as a useful self-assessment strategy for both individual and group projects.”

 

Keeping these problems and their proposed changes in mind, I once again asked my students if a more traditional, familiar set of instructions for multimodal assignments would result in their increased interaction, and enjoyment. The class voted almost unanimously in favor of this proposed solution. 

 

So what? What does this all mean? Well, personally, I interpret this information as such: lets not overthink, overcomplicate, or completely revamp multimodal assignments due to our new modality. While we may find it necessary for other assignments to be restructured, expert opinion, personal opinion, and input from students (albeit my own students, a rather small sample size), all indicate that conventional methods of instruction for multimodal assignments not only are more effective and less confusing, as a result, they additionally, are more enjoyable. Creating effective strategies for online writing instruction is often a difficult process, as we all want the best, most accessible and enjoyable experience for our students. Luckily, when it comes to multimodal assignments, we can rest easy, knowing that, sometimes, the tried-and true, traditional way of teaching, just works.