Fulwiler Middleton Response

"Nowhere does this new media epistemology beckon more compellingly than in the arena of digital video, which may be the paradigmatic example of a multimodal text with the potential for wide-ranging cultural, aesthetic and social implications" (Fulwiler and Middleton 40). 

I wanted to talk about this quote from Fulwiler and Middleton's article because it particularly resonated with me. The other day when I was scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed, I noticed that about 15 posts in a row were videos. This included a Tasty recipe for french toast, a live New York Times feed of Central Park, a "fail" video from a comedian's page, a DIY clip for a cat-shaped garden planter, and more. What really stood out to me was that everything was moving, and the effect was overwhelming in its novelty. Even just a few months ago, I feel like the majority of my newsfeed was stationary (life updates, links to alphabetic text articles, images). But today, what readers seem to demand (or, more importantly, what they share on social media) and as a result, what writers supply, is video content.

This is significant because, as the authors of this article point out, our techniques for teaching students to produce videos are largely based on outdated technology and thus "may no longer be sufficient" (Fulwiler and Middleton 40). In an increasingly digital, technological, and fast-paced world, maybe we need to better prepare our students to produce the quick and concise videos that have become so popular.

 

Shipka Response

In this article, Jody Shipka explores how composition instructors can adapt and improve their teaching methods by shifting their focus from monomodal projects to more innovative, multimodal techniques. She argues that "the norm for student work is equated with linear, argumentative, thesis-driven print texts that are passed forward in class and geared primarily, if not exclusively, to an audience of one (the instructor)" (282). In this article, she examines how to shift this norm to help students adapt to a changed composition landscape.

Shipka hopes to improve upon the outdated monomodal composition system by helping her students  "(1) demonstrate an enhanced awareness of the affordances provided by the variety of media they employ in service of those goals; (2) successfully engineer ways of contextualizing, structuring, and realizing the production, representation, distribution, delivery, and reception of their work; and (3) become better equipped to negotiate the range of communicative contexts they find themselves encountering both in and outside of school" (284). These goals reflect the differences between her multimodal practices and the linear, alphabetic practices of the past.

In general, Shipka proposes these changes because she believes monomodal/traditional assignments limit students' creativity, predetermine their goals, and force them to use only one type of technology. She argues that multimodal projects are better because they are goal-oriented and flexible, so allow students to think rhetorically and make their own decisions about the direction of the project.