Discussion Question for 1.13…
Question for class discussion on Thursday the 13th:
Our first discussion question brings attention to defining multimodal composition. Use specific examples from the introduction of our textbook as a starting point for this first post. You all are, however, free and encouraged to use any other source you think will help narrow down a definition.
Responses to the discussion question will be the spring board for our in class discussion on Thursday the 13th. While there are no hard requirements for length, sources, etc in our posts, thoughtfulness in the quality of a response will be taken into consideration. You should also open your response with a brief signature type note that lets us know who you are.
Responses are due no later than 11.59 pm Wednesday (the 12th).
January 12th, 2011 at 12:34 am
Hi! My name is Mackenzie Clawson. I’m the one that loves shopping and friends!
Multimodal composition is an ever increasing means of teaching english courses and participating in writing or english courses. Because of the ever growing technology available to us, and the increasing global communication despite geographical borders multimodal composition is becoming more and more popular.
Mulitmodal composition is the use of multiple means of communicating other than the typical pen and paper writing. Multimodal composition can include using images, such as videos, and noises, such as sound bites as forms of communication. Some forms of doing this may include Powerpoints, Youtube videos, and Podcasts.
January 12th, 2011 at 2:28 pm
Looks like this is a good start.
January 12th, 2011 at 3:01 pm
Hello, I am Lindsay Vaughn ( I talked about ice cream).
Multimodal composition is combined into many of the new writing and english courses. It goes beyong just text and can refer to pictures of videos to help one understand the content. Because of the ever expanding technology, multimodal composition is becoming more and more common amongst college writing courses. Multimodal compositions helps the writers as well as, the reader understand the meaning and thought process behind the work.
January 12th, 2011 at 9:07 pm
This is a good point here about expanded learning as well as a reader understanding the thought process or meaning behind the work.
January 12th, 2011 at 4:24 pm
Hi my name is Joy Ashton.
From reading the first chapter of the textbook I would define multimodal composition as using various forms of media and technology within writings. From using multimodal composition readers can further understand words from the use of pictures. Various forms of media can also draw more readers. The use of multimodal composition is becoming more prevalent with the increasing use of the internet, this allows writer to use images and videos within their writing.
January 12th, 2011 at 6:41 pm
Hi, I am Brooke. My image in class revolved around sports and becoming a teacher/coach one day!
Multimodal composition can be seen throughout our culture today but especially in new types of writing and English courses. To help understand academics, teachers today add new forms of teaching like images, Powerpoints, DVD’s, and even this blog for example. This type of learning is going above and beyond by combining images and words. It is also important to see different signs throughout our society and ways to use them to learn new things. The biggest concept I learned from the intoduction is to realize that everyone can see a painting or piece of literature different than someone else.
January 12th, 2011 at 7:06 pm
Hi I’m LaShae and I’m one of the people who enjoyed reading.
Multimodal compositions are a new way of expressing what was once done with words and the alphabet. Multimodal compositions can include a variety of different aspects such as still or moving pictures, animations, or music and sound. These compositions are also done and expressed in new coming of age ways such as over the web, films, podcasts and other forms of technology. Although this is only an exception to the norm many teachers are now using multimodal compositions as a way of engaging and exciting more students. This also makes communication skills stronger over the internet among students and peers.
January 12th, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Hello, Im Jenn Pisano, one of the many architecture majors in our class.
Multimodal composition is a newer type of writing/English course. It does not include just reading and writing, but rather pictures and all types of media. I searched this term on Google and got a huge number of university and college sites that were bragging about their multimodal composition courses offered at their school. These courses use the technology of pictures, text, videos, advertisements, music, and pretty much anything you could think of as a learning tool as well as to define anything.
The introduction of our textbook discusses how pictures, ads, art and text can have multiple meanings if we think about it. I liked the idea of images replacing words because a picture can have so much meaning that may not even be describable through text. A picture can also be interpreted differently to several people based on their beliefs and ideas, which I think is sometimes more powerful than text.
January 12th, 2011 at 9:12 pm
There was a good point in the introduction of the textbook that mentions context of an image (the farm house from 1938). What other examples of context can we think of?
January 12th, 2011 at 7:59 pm
Hi, I am Josh Phillips. I’m the one who likes to golf.
Multimodaal composition is becoming a very important part of english courses and writings. The book and some online sources talk about pictures, sounds, diagrams, and many other things expressing words without words actually written. Multimodal composition in using all of those examples and many more to to express the meaning and process behind a writers work. The advances in technology have also had an effect on multimodal composition, because we pull so much information from the internet and use different programs to create images to express the meaning.
January 12th, 2011 at 8:02 pm
Hi my name is Kyle Hlebak and I will miss the first week or two of class because I just recently had reconstructive knee surgery. Pleas excuse anything that sounds ridiculous in my responses, I’m on constant heavy pain medication.
After reading the introduction to Picturing Texts, I have come to the conclusion that multimodal composition involves relating messages and concepts through different unique ways other than just plain text. Some concepts or ideas may be difficult to comprehend simply by reading or hearing via word of mouth. In order to convey ideas more clearly, sometimes simple or complex pictures or diagrams help to get the point or message across.
In other instances, a picture may attempt to convey an idea to it’s observer, but a small paragraph of text may be included to explain a hidden meaning or message. A good example of this from the reading can be found on page 7 in Dorothea Lange’s Childress County image.
January 12th, 2011 at 9:14 pm
Kyle, glad you’re with us in cyberspace. Your response here is right in line with the topic at hand.
January 12th, 2011 at 8:08 pm
Kara Thomas (the one who likes to read :))
I haven’t received my textbook yet, but the information I’ve gathered from the internet (and confirmation from the other posts) lead me to believe that multimodal composition is a way of integrating writing and technology in English courses. It is advantageous for teachers to use multimodal composition in the classroom as a way to further student’s knowledge on a certain subject, especially considering how interested students are with technology.
Hopefully my book will come in soon so I can further my knowledge on the subject!
January 12th, 2011 at 9:15 pm
Here’s a thread that I’m picking up on: learning environments. What about actually producing multimodal texts, which is the next step for us?
January 12th, 2011 at 8:42 pm
Multimodal composition is not a new concept, but it is one that has expanded greatly due to developments in technology. It involves using multiple forms of visual media (text, pictures, video, etc.) to communicate something that would be much more difficult to get across using just one of these methods. The authors of Picturing Texts point out that using multiple forms of visual communication together can actually change the mean that we give to words or pictures. For instance, when initially looking at a photograph, your interpretation may be different than when you receive the context of the photograph in words.
The authors also note that words often bring images into our minds. This relation is likely one of the primary reasons that many types of media use the two in correlation with one another. Each type of media has its own function, but when it is used with other forms it can take on a different purpose, and effect the use of other forms at the same time.
January 12th, 2011 at 8:56 pm
Hello, I am Brandon Sandmann. I talked about Lebron.
Multimodal compositions are being newly integrated into English courses because of the expansion of technology and ways that reading and writing can be displayed. These courses are starting to include images, music and videos to go along with the standard issue text in composition. More and more college courses are beginning to integrate these new techniques in attempt to help students view the material from a different angle for better understanding.
Multimodal Composition is being introduced because it helps the student learn the content in a variety of ways so it is easier to understand concepts. It allows teachers to find easier ways to communicate the ideas of the content to their students, which inevitably results in making the course much simpler and enjoyable.
January 12th, 2011 at 9:18 pm
Here’s a good point to question: multimodality as an easier way to communicate with students and making the course simpler. Where, then, are the boundaries of simplicity and ease?
January 12th, 2011 at 9:08 pm
Hello! I’m Austin Cutnaw, Architecture major, and sports playing fanatic.
My grasp on multimodal compostion went as such:
Multimodal composition is designed to help teachers of English composition to go beyond the limits of texts that rely primarily on words, and to enjoy exploring the special capacities of video, image and sound.
A multimodal approach to learning requires us to take seriously and attend to the whole range of modes involved in representation and communication. Mode is used to refer to a regularized organized set of resources for creating meaning, including, image, gaze, gesture, movement, music, speech and sound –effect.
January 12th, 2011 at 9:10 pm
Here’s a good point about what will the professional environment expect from potential employees; i.e. what will you folks be expected to do when you all leave the academic field.
January 12th, 2011 at 9:30 pm
I am Lara, one of the architecture students, but my picture was the one of the Frank Gehry building.
I would define multimodal composition by firstly breaking it down; multi means numerous, modal related to mode, means in this case the media of how information is presented, and composition in this case being a writing or lesson made up of many words, thoughts, and ideas. Secondly, to define multimodal composition I would use a specific example, as I learn well from examples. An example being: in a class that you are taking the professor introduces the subject through speech, then shows a few slides of a power point, reads off a few quotes from a book or famous person, they also incorporate a short video, they have you take a quiz, during which they play a song to signify the time limit of the quiz. In that example of a lesson the professor has employed multimodal composition in the planning of their lecture.
January 12th, 2011 at 10:03 pm
Hello, I’m Jennifer Hinkle (I’m one of the people in our class who loves coffee)
From what I have gathered out of the text, multimodal composition offers numerous opportunites of presenting information without using the classic example of text. As technology grows and becomes more prominent in our society, so does multimodal composition. Technology presents multiple outlets of representation, such as: video, PowerPoint slides, music, sound effects and images. Each of these things increase the opportunity for a student to fully understand and process the information since so many of us learn in so many different ways. It also helps to pinpoint exactly what the message is that’s being presented. Text can sometimes be interpreted in different ways or have an underlying meaning, but when it is accompianed by multimodal composition, the point is usually more clear and comprehensible.
January 12th, 2011 at 11:08 pm
Hey my names Kelly McCarthy and I was the one who enjoyed mountains and the great outdoors.
Multimodal is most obviously the usage of more than one mode. Within the context of this class, and the introduction chapter I believe it represents a way to visualize whats being spoken by putting putting images to the words. In the text, the artisit Steve Meyer made an impression on me because of his ironic connections between words and images. I think in this case, multimodal becomes something way more interesting than the standard meaning. He puts these phrases like “sea-saw” and (my favorite) “old cowhand” into something very literal, which in my mind makes the phrase more memorable. I am typically interested in these uses of multimodal things to represent something unique and different.
January 12th, 2011 at 11:54 pm
Hi! I’m Todd Grubaugh. I have just been moved from the wait list and into the class so none of you know me yet. From what I have picked up, we are discussing multimodal composition. From what I have read and researched, it seems that this method of teaching is a very unique because people can more easily understand things with a visual representation rather than plain text. Although this method was not highly accepted when it was created, it is becoming an increasingly popular way of teaching English courses. More people can understand multimodal composition due to its simplicity rather than reading more complex forms of literature.
January 13th, 2011 at 12:10 am
Hello, My name is Adam Milhouse and i had the picture of the boat and the city behind it!
what i gather from what Multimodal composition is that the texts that students have produced in response to composition assignments have remained essentially the same. They consist primarily of words on a page, arranged into paragraphs. This flow of words is only occasionally interrupted by titles, headings, diagrams, or footnotes
January 13th, 2011 at 11:29 am
This looks to be a start, but it’s not finished. There’s a good point bubbling here with the idea of students producing texts in a usual same manner.
January 13th, 2011 at 10:41 am
Hi I’m Chris and I posted the picture of the Indianapolis Colts stadium.
Multimodal composition allows society to become more optimistic when we compose documents that communicate ideas and information. It invites us to use of what the book calls “texts” (this refers to graphics, images, and words and sound, video, and among others) in ways that communicate in differently and sometimes better than words alone. Although the standard use of words is of extreme importance, it is also important to consider the relationship of words, images, video, etc. and how the composition of such components can both become an art and skill that is useful for effective communication.
January 13th, 2011 at 11:31 am
I like this idea of “invites” us to use different kinds of text. Just because we can include images and videos and such doesn’t mean we always have to.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:32 am
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Nate Strong commented
Multimodal composition is using a mixture of pictures and words to express an idea. Using text and images both together makes the expression of the idea clearer and easier to understand. An example of this from the book would be the bench that had the word “Bed” written on it. This shows the bench in a new view which might be confusing but the book goes on to say that it is trying to raise awareness about homelessness and the horrors of it. Overall, multimodal composition is a great way to express ideas more clearly and easier.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:33 am
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My name is Brittany Connerly I am a AYA English major, I love USC football!
Multimodal composition is a from of composition and communication in the form of something electronically, for example; YouTube, Facebook, and Podcasts. It is quickly replacing typical pen and paper lessons and assignments. Multimodal composition is necessary because it helps people broaden their technological skills and learn new means of communication. This form of communication is often used by people in their daily life without them even realizing it. Multimodal composition is becoming more popular in classroom settings with the increase in technology in recent years.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:34 am
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Ryan Harris commented:
I will try not to repeat what I am sure has already been
posted, but this is what I have gathered from the textbook
about multimodal composition.
In a society that is always connected in some way through
Facebook, Twitter, etc, we have found ways to use that
technology to connect on a worldwide educational level
as well. Videos, pictures and audio clips can break language
barriers to convey thoughts and ideas across the globe.
Schools and colleges in our country use MC to further the
education of a technologically conscious youth.