Fast and Slow Literacies: Digital and Compositional Conundrums in a Post-Truth Era

Abstract

<jats:p> The purpose of this article is to isolate and detail various literacies deployed by youth when they composed multimodal texts that culminated in the production of student films. In particular, we focus on manifestations of young people’s thinking in the forms of fast and slow literacies. Using data from a series of research studies in which we observed Grades 3–12 students create short films in course-embedded field experiences and summer movie camps, we examined how the composition of student-made films allowed us to interrogate and elaborate literacies, both fast and slow, and the fast and slow thinking that supported the creation of those literate manifestations. We suggest fast and slow literacies, broadly construed, alter theories of literacy learning. </jats:p>

Case Study of Experiences with Transmediation for a Student with Learning Disabilities

“…When language is not the best mode to express meaning, how have students utilized other modes to strengthen or clarify their thinking? Design using transmediation is also a higher order thinking skill that is not well explored in the provincial curriculum, but it is a skillset that is important in the "real world" as students engage with more nuanced and complex texts in their daily lives (Schneider et al, 2020). Transmediation is a constant process of adaptation and "involves generative thinking and problem solving as new connections are made between expression planes" (Mills, 2011.p.…”