When I read that the description for this task was to re-imagine the “What’s in your bag?” task, I knew that I wanted to make a TikTok video. While I have watched a lot of TikTok videos, I have never actually made one. However, when reflecting upon the concept of “Modebending” and “Multiliteracies”, I think that the popularity of social media apps like TikTok and Instagram stem largely from the way they incorporate multiliteracies and mode bending. There are countless, creative content creators that are often reinventing the wheel and looking for new ways to communicate and express their thoughts and ideas. Following in TikToks tradition of building on ideas that are initiated by other creators, the format for my TikTok video is inspired by the creator Caitlyn @Her.atlas who started the trend of “Random Things in my Japanese Home that Just Make Sense!” (Caitlyn, 2020) to showcase the unique things in her Japanese house that are not commonly found in North America. When I was creating my video, I accidentally left the word “Random” out of my voiceover and text, but decided not to change it, as the reality is that the things in my bag are not random…but also, I learned the hard way that it’s actually impossible to edit a TikTok video after you publish it. Creating this TikTok took a considerable amount of time and two takes. For the first take, I recorded, edited, added my voiceover, etc. to my first version, published it, and then realized that you could barely hear my voiceover. Because I had recorded my videos directly in the TikTok app, they had not been saved. Thus, I had to repeat the process to create a second take…a lengthy process for a video that is only 33 seconds long!
However, while I was creating this video, I definitely developed a new appreciation for the amount of efforts that goes into creating content for these apps. In addition, the process of making the video through to embedding it on my blog required multiple literacies and skills beyond reading and writing. I thought that it would be interesting to list the knowledge and skills required here:
1. Open basic apps on an Smartphone (in my case, iPhone).
2. Navigating TikTok, initiating a post, and playing with the different editing functions, like snipping videos and adding text.
3. Planning my voiceover.
4. The ability to add audio in the form of music and recording a voiceover for the TikTok video.
5. When I ran into difficulty, I was able to access the internet on a computer by typing and using a mouse.
6. Searching YouTube videos on the internet and viewing them to help me troubleshoot.
7. Recording videos using my camera function and uploading them to an app.
8. Air Dropping my TikTok video from my phone to my computer.
9. Knowing how to upload videos from my computer to my blog,
10. When the blog indicated that the video file was too big, I had the knowledge to know their were solutions like compressing or embedding the video into the blog.
11. Choosing an online video editor, Vimeo, and uploading my TikTok video.
12. Copying an embed code from Vimeo to use for my blog.
13. Successfully embedding the code from the TikTok video (now on Vimeo) to my blog.
While I was reflecting on the process, I could not help but think about that even though the process was slow the first time around, it would be significantly faster for me to do it a second time now that I have taught myself. In fact, I could even scaffold the process and teach someone else to do it, including my 6 year old daughter if I walked her through the steps. While her basic reading and writings skills are still developing, she is engaged and familiar enough with technology that I do not think that it would be that difficult for her. This is very different from if my daughter had to write a detailed description of the contents of my bag that allowed the reader to see the same level of detail as the video. Beyond a couple of sentences, a task that involved that much writing would be frustrating for her. It would be out of reach and inaccessible. Whereas, the TikTok video would be engaging and she would be willing to learn the process.
Not surprisingly, the importance in re-thinking literacy pedagogy to encompass multi-literacies is incredibly important to me and one of my main motivations for enrolling in the MET program. The New London Group (1996) describes how literacy pedagogy has typically focused on reading and writing page-bound print, which “has been a carefully restricted project – restricted to formalised, monolingual, monocultural, and rule-governed forms of language” (p. 9). Nowhere do I think that this is often more apparent than in K to 3 primary classrooms. I mentioned it briefly in my last post here, but that writing is viewed as a process of pencil on paper, and children are often afforded little other opportunities to express their thoughts. The New London Group (1996) identifies the six components of multiliteracy as entailing the following modes of meaning: “Linguistic Design, Visual Design, Audio Design, Gestural Design, Spatial Design and Multimodal Design” (p. 25). The New England Group (1996) describe Multimodal design as being how people create and innovate, as they incorporate different modes of design to create new ways to represent their understanding, which is a form of hybridity. In addition, Multimodal Design incorporates intertextuality where the creation builds on and “transforms” previous work. To me, TikTok is a great example of “Multimodal Design” in the way the way that creators combine design elements while also putting their own spin on the design of others, or borrow components like audio to combine with their own work in ways that connect but completely alter the meaning. The reality is that as educators, we need to be aware of the multiliteracies that exist in the world around us and allow students to develop the skills they will need to be able to understand, appreciate, and create multimodal designs.
References
Caitlyn [@her.atlas]. (2020, April 6). PART 1. #hometour #lifeabroad #japanthings [Video]. TikTok. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMejyHbS5/
The New London Group. (1996).
A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review 66(1), 60-92.
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