Multimodal Literacies: Communication and Learning in the Era of Digital Media

About this course: This course introduces innovative approaches to learning and teaching, with a focus on the use of e-learning and social web technologies.

Created by:  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Taught by:  Dr William Cope, Professor

  Department of Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, College of Education

• Taught by:  Dr Mary Kalantzis, Dean

  College of Education

Language English How To Pass Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. User Ratings 4.8 stars Average User Rating 4.8See what learners said Coursework

Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.

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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a world leader in research, teaching and public engagement, distinguished by the breadth of its programs, broad academic excellence, and internationally renowned faculty and alumni. Illinois serves the world by creating knowledge, preparing students for lives of impact, and finding solutions to critical societal needs.

Syllabus


WEEK 1


Module 1: Course Orientation + Multimodal Meaning and Synesthesia



This module introduces the key ideas of the course: communication, representation (or making meanings for oneself as an aid to thinking), and the design of meaning. Today, our tools for communication and representation have been widely expanded by digital tools. For these reasons, we need to extend our literacy pedagogy to encompass literacies in the plural, including a wider range of modes of meaning than alphabetic text alone.


4 videos, 8 readings, 1 practice quiz expand

1. Reading: Syllabus
2. Reading: Task Overview - How to Pass This Course
3. Reading: About the Discussion Forums
4. Practice Quiz: Orientation Quiz
5. Reading: Take this Course as a Stepping Stone for a University of Illinois Certificate, Masters, or Doctorate - Fully Online!
6. Discussion Prompt: Getting to Know Your Classmates
7. Reading: Updating Your Profile
8. Reading: Social Media
9. Video: 8.1 Introduction - Representation, Communication and Design
10. Reading: "Regimes of Literacy," Kalantzis and Cope
11. Video: 8.2 Design and Multimodality
12. Video: 8.3 A Grammar of Multimodal Meaning
13. Video: 8.4 Synesthesia or Mode Switching
14. Reading: Related Readings
15. Discussion Prompt: Essential Update #1

Graded: Essential Peer Reviewed Update #1

WEEK 2


Module 2: Making Meaning by Reading + Making Meaning by Writing + Making Visual Meaning
This module begins with an overview of the conventional focus of literacy pedagogy – reading and writing. In its second half, the module applies a parallel set of tools to analysis of visual meanings.


16 videos, 3 readings expand

1. Video: 9.1 Learning to Read: Phonics
2. Video: 9.2 Learning to Read: Reading for Meaning
3. Reading: Related Readings
4. Discussion Prompt: Optional Update #2
5. Peer Review: Optional Peer Reviewed Update #2
6. Video: 10.1 The Nature of Writing
7. Video: 10.2 Traditional Grammar and Its Impossibilities
8. Video: 10.3 Chomsky’s Grammar
9. Video: 10.4 Halliday’s Grammar
10. Video: 10.5 A Grammar of Multiliteracies
11. Video: 10.6 The Writing Process
12. Reading: Related Readings
13. Discussion Prompt: Essential Update #3
14. Video: 11.1 The Contemporary Significance of Visual Meanings
15. Video: 11.2 Designs of Visual Meanings
16. Video: 11.3 Perceptual Images and Mental Images
17. Video: 11.4 A Grammar of the Visual
18. Video: 11.5 Deconstructing Images
19. Video: 11.6 Image Making as Design
20. Video: 11.7 Parsing Images
21. Video: 11.8 Multimodal Pedagogy in Practice
22. Reading: Related Readings
23. Discussion Prompt: Optional Update #4
24. Peer Review: Optional Peer Reviewed Update #4

Graded: Essential Peer Reviewed Update #3

WEEK 3


Module 3: Making Spatial, Tactile, and Gestural Meanings + Making Audio and Oral Meanings + Literacies to Think and to Learn



In this third module of the course, we examine spatial, tactile, gestural, audio, and oral meanings – all today part of a wider repertoire of teaching and learning that we call "literacies" in the plural, or "multiliteracies." In the final section of the module, we explore how we use literacies to think in characteristically "academic" ways. In this sense, literacies play a critical supportive role in the learning process.


13 videos, 3 readings expand

1. Video: 12.1 Spatial, Tactile, and Gestural Meanings
2. Video: 12.2 A Grammar of Spatial Meaning
3. Video: 12.3 Tactile Meanings
4. Video: 12.4 A Grammar of Tactile Meaning
5. Video: 12.5 Gestural Meanings
6. Video: 12.6 A Grammar of Gestural Meanings
7. Reading: Related Readings
8. Discussion Prompt: Optional Update # 5
9. Peer Review: Optional Peer Reviewed Update # 5
10. Video: 13.1 Making Audio Meanings
11. Video: 13.2 Making Meanings Using Oral Language
12. Video: 13.3 Synesthesia and Mode Shifting Between Oral and Written Meanings
13. Video: 13.4 Classroom Discussion in Speech and Writing
14. Reading: Related Readings
15. Discussion Prompt: Essential Update #6
16. Video: 14.1 Literacies to Think and to Learn
17. Video: 14.2 On Human Meaning Systems
18. Video: 14.3 Academic Literacies as Ways of Thinking
19. Reading: Related Readings
20. Discussion Prompt: Optional Update #7
21. Peer Review: Optional Peer Reviewed Update #7

Graded: Essential Peer Reviewed Update #6

WEEK 4


Module 4: Literacies and Learner Differences + Literacies Standards and Assessment



The final module of the course examines the question of learner differences – including literacies learning at different age levels and second language learning. We also explore strategies for differentiated instruction. Finally, we investigate the range of assessment strategies that can be used to diagnose learner needs, offer feedback during the learning process, and evaluate learning outcomes.


13 videos, 2 readings expand

1. Video: 15.1 Literacies and Learner Differences
2. Video: 15.2 The Effects of Learner Differences
3. Video: 15.3 Literacies Learning and Development
4. Video: 15.4 Recognizing Learner Differences in Literacies Pedagogy
5. Video: 15.5 Complexities of Learner Differences
6. Video: 15.6 Differentiated Literacies Instruction
7. Reading: Related Readings
8. Discussion Prompt: Essential Update #8
9. Video: 16.1 Approaches to Literacy Standards and Assessment
10. Video: 16.2 Standardized and Norm-referenced Assessment
11. Video: 16.3 Criterion Referenced Assessment
12. Video: 16.4 Progress Assessment
13. Video: 16.5 Select and Supply Response Assessments
14. Video: 16.6 Rubric-Based Peer and Formative Assessment
15. Video: 16.7 Big Data and the Future of Assessment
16. Reading: Related Readings
17. Discussion Prompt: Optional Update #9
18. Peer Review: Optional Peer Reviewed Update #9
19. Peer Review: Optional Work 1: Educational Theory
20. Peer Review: Optional Work 2A: Learning Practice Case Study
21. Peer Review: Optional Work 2B: Design a Learning Module

Graded: Essential Peer Reviewed Update #8