Tonight, I watched a 2021 Lilly Conference Online asynchronous session by Dr. Silvia Bartolic from the University of British Columbia. The session was entitled “Promoting Digital and Visual Literacy Through Multimodal Projects” and began with the numerous reasons why instructors should use multimodal assessments. The challenge, as mentioned by Bartolic, is how to design multimodal assignments to meet course objectives and assess them. The goals of the session were to showcase examples of multimodal assessment forms, provide suggestions for assessment, and discuss highlights of student perception data. Bartolic helped create a site called “Beyond the Text” to help instructors and students design media assignments. Bartolic mentioned that it is best practice to include a reflection component with multimodal projects. Question prompts shared included reflections on the process, challenges, and highlights. The website has examples and useful links to guide students. Some examples included photo essays and podcasts. Bartolic mentioned grading content and not the development of the podcast or photo essay if this isn’t an objective of the course. Bartolic suggested writing a rubric with students, which is an excellent idea and I haven’t been brave enough to try it. The website also includes example rubrics and text for webpages and creativity, among others. Sample survey questions from Bartolic’s study and focus group plans are included. This resource gives me so many ideas for studies we could do! The Nifty Tools part of the website provides ways to select technology for different approaches. The Student Resources page has information for students about the approach, copyright, and use of images.
Bartolic then discussed the evaluation of different projects in five iterations of a course they teach. Most students decided to create a website, blog, audio/podcast. Student perceptions of multimodal projects were overall positive. Most students felt that they gained or developed skills with this assignment. Students were generally satisfied with the team work component too. Bartolic reviewed data and quotes from students. The connection to the content was reinforced by having students communicate concepts and ideas to broad audiences. I thought this study was helpful in encouraging me to continue using multimodal assignments. I appreciate the motivation, creativity, and critical thinking students put into the projects they design, create, and often share publicly. The Beyond the Text resource will be very helpful as I consider assignments like these for BIT 295 and other modules.
