Link to Original Post: Task 7 – Mode Bending (Yasin, 2023a)
Comment
Hi Lubna,
I really appreciate the approach you took towards this mode-bending task! In particular, I thought it was really neat that you took this opportunity to further align the task with your own identity, by taking a social constructed approach to the creation and curation of different audio clips.
Furthermore, I appreciate your intentional use of abstract line silhouettes – rather than a photograph – as it provided just the right amount of context for me to connect each item with the aural representations.
Yet, at the same time, the line drawings didn’t detract or overtake the sound clips – which was really neat and effective. This is further enhanced by your use of interactive elements to make your artifact even more engaging. I enjoyed spending time with your task and learning more about you along the way!
Thanks for sharing!
Reflection
By integrating visual, audio and interactive modalities, Lubna powerfully reconfigured her first task (Yasin, 2023) into an engaging and personal digital artifact that represented many layers of her own identity. Lubna’s work aligns with The New London Group’s (1996) suggestion that the use multiple modes of representation can afford a more deeper integration and expression of one’s own social and cultural context. Lubna achieves this by reworking the “available design” (NLG, 1996, p. 88) of her first task, which uses visual and written-language modes. In her “redesigned” (NGL, 1996, p. 88) version, Lubna effectively creates new meanings by including audio and a combination of visual and linguistic modes which afford interactivity.
Lubna and I both leveraged the use of multimodal texts in the creation of our mode-bending artifacts. In my mode-bending task, I too utilize a combination of audio, visual and linguistic modes in an interactive way to support meaning-making in a way that ‘gamifies’ the experience of learning about what’s in my bag. Lubna, on the other hand, achieves this in a much more impactful way through her use of curated artifacts that speak directly to her identity, such as audio clips that are reflective of Pakistani culture and language. Given that I tried to make my mode-bending artifact into a trivia-game, most of the audio clips I used were slightly more general and don’t reflect my cultural identity as deeply, except for a few instances where the sounds of technology or music is heard.
In closing, I’m reminded of checkpoint 5.1 of the Universal Design for Learning Framework (CAST, 2018), which speaks to providing learners the option to represent their knowledge and understanding using multiple modes. Through this task, it’s clear that working in a strictly written-linguistic mode may not always afford the same depth and meaning as other modes when expressing socially constructed knowledge. This validates the work that I already do when applying UDL principles and designing instruction that advocates for the use of multiple modes of representation and expression.
References
CAST (2018). Use multiple media for communication. Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2. https://udlguidelines.cast.org/action-expression/expression-communication/use-multimedia
The New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review 66(1), 60-92. http://newarcproject.pbworks.com/f/Pedagogy%2Bof%2BMultiliteracies_New%2BLondon%2BGroup.pdf
Yasin, L. (2023a, March 3). Task 7: Mode-bending. Lubna Yasin ETEC 540. https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540lyasin/2023/03/03/week-7-mode-bending/
Yasin, L. (2023b, January 21). Task 1: What’s in my bag?. Lubna Yasin ETEC 540. https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540lyasin/2023/01/21/whats-in-my-bag/