“Seeing It From a Different Light”

Abstract

Although research emphasizes the importance of reflection for productive learning, much of this work has focused on writing as the preferred mode. The goal of this study was to examine how two adolescent composers reflected on their multimodal visions and processes through multimodal means—in particular, how the students remixed research‐provided screen capture video, class observation video, and their multimodal products to each create a composer's cut video reflection. A multimodal matrix analytic approach was employed by integrating analyses of students’ composing processes, products, and perspectives to derive themes. Findings revealed that the students uniquely remixed modes and media to create their composer's cut videos. They leveraged the affordances of video, image, text, and sound to represent their creative process and artistic identities. Students gained new insights into their process and who they were as multimodal designers and recommended composer's cut as a useful tool for personal reflection and social media sharing.

Adolescents' navigation of linguistic and nonlinguistic modes when reading a digital narrative

“…There has been an upsurge in studies examining how students utilise multiple modes when composing digital narrative texts (e.g. Dalton et al, 2015;Smith & Dalton, 2016), yet little is known about how students attend to multimodality when reading narratives in digital spaces. In previous research (Coiro & Dobler, 2007), skilled readers of traditionally printed texts provided important insights to the field of teacher education about engaging with informational texts in digital environments.…”

Scaffolding Digital Literacies for Disciplinary Learning: Adolescents Collaboratively Composing Multimodal Science Fictions

“…Previous research has suggested that adolescents' multimodal composing processes are complex and vary based on the convergence of multiple factors. Adolescents often exhibit unique modal preferences (Smith, 2016;Smith & Dalton, 2016), relying on modes in different ways to make meaning. For example, some students might prefer to initiate their multimodal composing process by focusing on visuals first, whereas other students might want to lay a written foundation before attuning to nonprint modes (Smith, 2016).…”

“…For example, some students might prefer to initiate their multimodal composing process by focusing on visuals first, whereas other students might want to lay a written foundation before attuning to nonprint modes (Smith, 2016). By providing choices in the multimodal composition process, students learn how different modes possess unique affordances for communicating their message (Smith & Dalton, 2016). Students had the latitude to select which digital tools and online programs to use for creating their projects.…”

“…Along with daily reflections in which students tracked their progress, additional reflections were made up of online surveys with open-ended questions. Students also created multimodal reflections (Smith & Dalton, 2016) by choosing a digital format based on the tools they learned. Reflections ranged from written blogs to infograph-ics, Scratch animations, and Pixton comics.…”

Leveraging Digital Mentor Texts to Write Like a Digital Writer

“…Have students create a Composer's Cut of their own digital writing (see Smith & Dalton, 2016). Students can record over their digital texts to explain their compositional choices and share how their own digital mentor texts influenced their digital compositions.…”