Weekly Reading #3

1. A quote from the text:

“Moreover, assessment is very much about context and needs to take into account the particular circumstances of the course, the students, and the teacher, as well as the possibilities afforded by the assignment, the modes, and the medium. Even if it were possible, then, it would be unwise to apply a set of assessment criteria to all types of assignments at all places” (Sorapure).

Madeleine Sorapure’s webtext, “Between Modes: Assessing Student New Media Compositions offers us a new way to begin assessing multimodal creations, primarily because none existed.  As she points out, it is not enough to use the principles of graphic design to assess all media compositions.  That takes away from the uniqueness of graphic design, and fails to recognizes the uniqueness of many other forms.  As the quote above points out, each type of media needs to be judged on its own terms.

2. My history with multimodal assignments:

I have asked students to create presentations in my class, and have set some light criteria for creating those in Powerpoint and Prezi.  One of my favorite assignments of the year consists of asking students to rethink the history of the idea of “race” in America.  This assignment is connected to a reading of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and to some scientific, historical, and social studies discussion found on the PBS webpage: “Race the Power of an Illusion.”  Although some students work hard to create some interesting presentations, I find myself judging them solely on content… and this seems a pity, because why give them a presentation assignment and then assess it like a report.  I am ready incorporate some of the suggestions in Sorapure’s article.

3. An example of metonymy:

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This artwork by Shepard Fairey shows his mastery of creating tension between modes.  The image of the sad or prayerful young Native American, next to the background of historical imagery, next to the words themselves send the message in a powerful way.  This is a great example.

4. An example of metaphor:

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This example of metaphor is not as powerful, but still I can't but help but make connections between this and life.  The single streetlight remains dark at dusk, while all those in the background have already come on.  There is an anxiety to the image, and sense of sadness.  I wouldn't hesitate to use this image next to some text in a presentation to communicate something specific to the audience.

5. My takeaway from these readings:

I have already started to realize that I need to put some more time into creating a strategy for assessing multimodal presentations and into helping students make self-assessments.

References

Sorapure, M. (n.d.). Between Modes: Assessing Student New Media Compositions. . Retrieved June 9, 2014, from http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/10.2/coverweb/sorapure/between_modes.pdf