For this week’s task, I reimagined the “What’s in my bag?” task with a video. I wanted to showcase this task using both visual and audio. The New London Group emphasizes the various modes of representation and the importance of the elements in the Multiliteracies paradigm (NLG, 1996). Their mode of meaning entailed audio design, spatial design, gestural design, visual design, and linguistic design. When I redesigned this task, I thought about all the essential elements that I needed to bring this video to life. There were benefits and challenges that I had to consider.
With today’s ways of communication especially with teaching and learning, I wanted to ensure that my audience members are engaged. Attention economy has influenced how we interact with technology and each other (Citton, 2017). Especially with the rise of social media platforms, our attention span has shortened, and we are consistently distracted. Therefore, I knew that my video could not be extremely long. My goal was to keep the video between 2-3 minutes. I wanted to make sure my video incorporated as many design elements as possible – visual, audio, gestural, and linguistic design. I wanted my video to look a certain way along with colours, text, and images at different parts of the scene to create a sense of perspective. As for audio design, I knew I wanted to have background music to create a calm atmosphere. As for linguistic and gestural design, it came down to how I delivered the content while recording and the delivery of my voice-over. The video and the script took thoughtful planning. The voiceover consisted of multiple takes until I was satisfied with the delivery of the content whether it may be the tone of the voice, the vocabulary used, or the way words were articulated – all of this came into consideration.
Mode-changing sometimes requires a certain level of open-mindedness, an eagerness to take risks, and a sense of motivation to embrace different ways of doing things. Cope & Kalantzis (2009) stated that the world was changing, the communications environment was changing, and it seemed that to follow these changes literacy teaching and learning would have to change as well. The same applies today as we continue in this technological world. When we have new literacies, we will have new learning. It was interesting to see how easy and difficult it was to reimagine a task that I had done before. Overall, I am extremely happy with the final product. Hope you enjoy my “What’s in my bag?” video.
References
Citton, Y. (2017). The ecology of attention. John Wiley & Sons.
Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2009). Multiliteracies: New literacies, new learning. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 4(3), 164-195.
The New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. (Links to an external site.) Harvard Educational Review 66(1), 60-92.
Steph Takeda
July 8, 2024 — 6:56 am
Hi Lucy,
I really enjoyed watching your video and thought it was very successful in being both multimodal and in redesigning task 1.
I think changing modes by creating a short introductory video allowed your viewers to get to know you better than the initial exercise alone. The addition of audio really worked well for you here. Your tone, inflection, and the side observations you made (like your love of snacks) along with your choice of background music all provided insight into who you are, beyond the content you covered.
Incorporating video made the introduction more dynamic and much more engaging than a static picture. As you mentioned in your post, video naturally incorporates elements of audio, spatial, gestural, visual, and linguistic design, enhancing the overall meaning. The addition of words on your screen for example, enhanced your project by adding a linguistic component and a bit of visual flair.
I also appreciated your final paragraph. You’re absolutely right; mode-changing requires open-mindedness and a willingness to take risks. New literacies reflect changing times, which means teaching and learning must evolve as well. I feel like instruction is a constant reflection of this evolution, and being open-minded to new approaches is key to avoiding that stagnation.
Great work on your video! It was fun to watch.
Steph
Lucy Lai
July 16, 2024 — 2:15 pm
Hi Steph,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful feedback on my vide and post! I’m glad to hear that you found it successful and engaging – that was what I was hoping it’ll do. Your comments on the multimodal aspects and the redesign of Task 1 are very reassuring.
I wanted to make it more personal and dynamic with the short video. It’s great to know that the addition of audio, along with my tone of voice, inflection, and my love for snacks resonated with you. The background music was chosen to complement the overall vibe, so I’m happy it added to the insight into who I am. Your point about video naturally incorporating various design elements such as audio, spatial, gestural, visual, and linguistic is spot-on. Adding words on the screen was an intentional choice to enhance the linguistic component and visual appeal. I’m glad these elements worked well together to make the video more engaging. Sometimes it’s hard to know whether something works as intended. It took a bit of time, but I love how it all came together.
It’s true because as technology evolves, we have to also learn to work together with it. I truly believe that technology will enhance our ways of learning and teaching – it opens so many new opportunities and doors. One barrier when implementing new technology in professional space is often the buy-in of the users, so we have to not be afraid of these innovation, embrace them, and use them to our advantage.
Thank you again for your kind words and for taking the time to watch my video and read my post. I enjoyed creating it, and I’m thrilled that you found it fun to watch!
Warm regards,
Lucy