Imaginative Development: Multimodal Compositions From Process to Product
The shift in composition classrooms from alphabetic text and essays to new media and multimodal composition (MMC) also risks shifting the focus from the process of composing to final product form. Although multimodal projects sometimes neglect the legacy of the expressivist movement—free writing and writing as a form of discovery—they present a chance to utilize (or hinder) the process of composing. In Multimodal Composition: Resources for Teachers, Kara Poe Alexander says that “for every 1 minute of a finished audio or video essay, an author puts in 200 minutes of authoring and production time” (118). Although Alexander suggests means to overcome this problem, revision still has the potential to challenge the realistic boundaries of available class time.
MMC can become outward composing—creation shaped by modes—verses the inward creation of the mind. Thus the process of MMC cannot help students clarify their thinking unless the assignment is framed in a way that allows for a variety of different approaches; too specific of an assignment could limit the bounds of students’ imaginations.
My presentation will explore how process theory, with an emphasis on learning through composing, can be incorporated into new media classrooms so projects can be imagined and developed, rather than simply planned and outlined. I will also approach peer review/revision as an opportunity for a project to evolve in new directions rather than simply constituting a “redo.” In doing so, I will respond to selected assignments in Multimodal Composition and Ball and Moeller’s 2007 website.
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