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Developing a pilot survey research using multimodal instruments

Learning Module

Abstract

This Learning Module will explore digital multimodal composition through the work with a pilot survey research and multimedia presentation, using a hybrid instructional approach. This module is intended for EFL students (upper-intermediate level) that will develop a pilot research project, using a digital survey as a data collection instrument and presenting the results producing a multimodal artifact. Students will engage with authentic materials and communicative situations that will allow them to experience the language through an interdisciplinary approach.

Keywords

EFL. Multimodal composition. Pilot research project. Project-based learning.

Overview and learning outcomes

Considering that “in 21st-century social and cultural contexts, meanings are more and more represented multimodally” (Miller and McVee, 2012, p. 02)” and that “the idea about literacy as reading and writing print text has expanded into multimodal literacy, which includes reading and writing multiple forms of non-print texts […]” (p. 01), it is necessary to develop new social literacy practices. Miller and McVee (2012) underpin the importance of “providing opportunities for students to engage in multimodal composing in school […]. An expended notion of text can provide them with opportunities to reinvent and enhance notions of audience, purpose, genre, form, and context - mainstays of the English Language Arts (ELA curriculum - through multimodality”(Miller and McVee, 2012, p. 03).

Official documents that guide English as Foreign Language teaching have also highlighted the importance of using technology and improving students digital and critical literacy, and acknowledge that contemporary language practices not only involve new genres and increasingly multi-semiotic and multimedia texts, but also new ways of producing, configuring, making available, replicating and interacting.

Based on my experience as an EFL instructor in undergraduate courses and on the need to develop a multiliteracies approach to teaching language, this Learning Module will explore digital multimodal composition through the work with a pilot survey research and multimedia presentation, using a hybrid instructional approach. Thus, a Learning Management System (CGScholar, Google Classroom, Moodle, Canvas, or other) can be used to deliver some of the content that will be worked, while workshops (hands-on activities) should be delivered in traditional face-to-face meetings.

 

LEARNING OUTCOMES

This module is intended for EFL students (upper-intermediate/college level) that will develop a pilot research project, using a digital survey as a data collection instrument and presenting the results using a multimodal genre. Students will engage with introductory research principles, authentic materials, new genres and communicative situations that will allow them to experience language learning through a multiliteracies approach (Kalantzis & Cope, 2000). As Howell et al (2015) point out, “a multiliteracies perspective sees the construction of meaning as being carried out by designers who employ multimodal tools in creating texts in a sociocultural context.” (p. 06).

Picture 1: Kalantzis, M.; Cope B. (2012). New Learning: elements of a science of education. 2nd ed. Australia: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 1, p. 31.

Thus, this module will explore the knowledge processes illustrated in the above picture, aiming at positioning students as active knowledge producers/designers, who have an active and reflective role in their learning process. The pedagogical movements will be designed and applied, therefore, towards activities that allow for: experiencing (the know and the new), conceptualizing (by naming and by theorizing), analyzing (functionally and critically), and applying (appropriately and creatively), based on which students will create an “original knowledge artefact or making an innovative intervention in the world.” (Kalantzis and Cope, 2012). The activities will also explore the affordances of new learning ecologies (Cope & Kalantzis, 2017), with special focus on the multimodal dimension, recursive feedback strategies and active-collaborative knowledge making.

Duration: 8 weeks

Evaluation: Engagement in the classes/projects, interaction, peer-to-peer review, self-evaluation.

Update 1: Finding a research question/problem

Students

Pre-Project Survey (online):

1) Based on contemporary themes and current debates or latest news related to language, culture, technology, is there any specific topic that calls your attention? Which topic are you most interested in? Which one(s) are you most curious about and would like to know more about/ research?

Explain why.

Picture 2: Survey (s.d). Retrieved from: https://afrinic.net/ast/afrinic-survey-2019.png

2) Which question would you like to answer regarding this theme?

Watch the video below and write a tentative research question related to the topic your chose.

Media embedded June 1, 2020

Steely Library (2014, July 28). Developing a Research Question [Video]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWLYCYeCFak

3) How can you know/search more about it?

 

Instructor

This online survey explores students’ interest in specific themes. It should be administered through an online questionnaire (survey posted in the LMS), which will first familiarize students with the kind of survey they will need to create later in this module.

Instructor should administer this survey online, using multimodal elements (such as the video link shared).

This survey should help students think about a research problem and develop a research question or questions. Their choice, then, should be rooted in previous knowledge and experiences that will help them shape how they plan to address the issue/topic they want to research and move towards what they are going to discover/investigate. It should also work as an example, for those students who have never participated in an online survey. So, the instructor can use one of the websites – GoogleForms, Survey Monkey, TypeForm – that will be later suggested.

Update 2: What is research? How are surveys used to collect data?

Student

Discuss:

Have you ever participated in any kind of survey?

What are the basic elements of a survey?

What would be an effective way to administer a survey in today’s digital world?

 

Fundamentally, a survey is a method of gathering information from a sample of people, traditionally with the intention of generalizing the results to a larger population. Surveys provide a critical source of data and insights for nearly everyone engaged in the information economy, from businesses and the media to government and academics. (from: https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/what-is-a-survey/)

Picture 3: Survey methods. (s.d) [Picture]. Retrieved from: https://storage.googleapis.com/gd-wagtail-prod-assets/images/Survey_Methods_connecting_w.max-4000x2000.jpegquality-90.png

 

Watch the video below and answer the questions.

https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-survey-research-definition-methods-types.html

 

1) What are the kinds of questions you can use in a survey?
2) What type(s) of questions do you think will be more appropriate for your research? Why?
3) What population are you going to investigate?

[Post your comment and provide feedback to at least 1 of your peers.]

Links that can help:

Develop a Questionnaire for Research

Designing surveys

What is a survey?

Instructor

This update will help students better understand some research principles, as well the purpose of a survey, through conceptualizing. The instructor should encourage students’ reflection regarding their own experiences as participants of different kinds of survey, which should help them theorize about this research instrument and support their future choices as researchers.

Update 3: Developing a digital survey

Student

Now they you already know what a survey is and the most appropriate kind of question you want to ask your participants, it’s time to create your questionnaire .

Watch the videos below, and create a first draft of your questionnaire (Think-Pair-Share Workshop).

Media embedded April 28, 2020
Media embedded June 1, 2020
Media embedded April 28, 2020
Media embedded June 1, 2020

Elon University Poll. (2014, September 26). A survey in 10 steps. [Video]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1MYM35qUr8

Elon University Poll. (2014, September 26). 7 tips for good survey questions. [Video]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq_fhTuY1hw

Round 1 (15 min)

Create a first draft of your questions

Round 2 (20 min)

In pairs, read and comment on each other’s questions. Try to help provide feedback and help your peers with their questionnaires.

Round 3 (15min)

Share how you have improved your questions so that they can better address your research problem.

Handle this first draft for instructor final review.

Instructor

In this update, students will start developing their survey research project by creating a first draft of the instrument they will use to collect data, through which they will engage in applying and analyzing their knowledge. The Instructor should monitor each step of the process and help students with any questions, and/or any grammar or vocabulary problems, providing feedback and encouraging them to reflect about the design process.

Update 4: Posting your survey

Student

Step 1

After receiving feedback from your peers and your instructor, choose an online platform to create your survey.

 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/

 

https://admin.typeform.com/signup
https://www.google.com/forms/about/
 
Media embedded April 28, 2020
Media embedded April 28, 2020

 Questionpro. (2020, February 11). The online survey software for efficient research. [Video]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBDtm1548iQ&feature=emb_logo

Step 2

In order to test your survey, share the link to your questionnaire with your peers so that you can give and get feedback on your work (peer-to-peer feedback).

Comment on comment on/provide feedback to at least 2 of your peers.

[Is the link working properly? Are the questions clear? Is the survey well-designed? Do you have any suggestion to improve it?]

Instructor

In this workshop, students will continue developing their survey research project by reviewing their work and posting their survey in an online platform, through which they will engage in applying and analyzing their knowledge.

Besides helping students with any difficulties in dealing with the platforms and posting the questionnaire, instructors should monitor and help students with any questions, and/or any grammar or vocabulary problems, providing feedback and encouraging them to reflect about the design process.

The suggested platforms enable more fluid and flexible layouts that contribute significantly to the meaning-making process. Students can choose different colors, fonts, images, videos, as rhetorical strategies that directly refer to the subject to be addressed in the questionnaire and create more engagement with participants/audience.

Update 5: Collecting data

Student

Administer the survey among the chosen population. Get as many participants as possible. (2 weeks).

While waiting for participants to answer, make a quick research about the topic of your survey (so that you can contextualize your data) and write your self-evaluation.

Complete your Self-evaluation: Write a 300-word reflection about your survey. Think about what you want to investigate/discover and how you think your questions will help you. Also, reflect on what you think you will discover/possible results.

Instructor

instructors should monitor each step of the process and help students with any questions, providing feedback and encouraging them to reflect about their design process.

Update 6: Organizing the data/Survey report

Student

 

After receiving the preliminary results of your survey, it is time to create a brief report.

Picture 4: Report (s.d) [Picture]. Retrieved from: https://cdn.searchenginejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/how-your-digital-agency-can-leverage-client-reports-to-prove-value-5debc3863d361-760x400.png

Follow the steps below:

1) Contextualize you survey

(What was your research question? Who are the people providing the data? how many people participated in the survey?)

2) Organize the data (use can use graphics, charts, pictures)

(What kind of text can help you organize your findings? How can they be better visualized?)

3) Analyse it

(What did you discover?)

 

Instructor

Encourage students to draft a tentative abstract for their research and reflect on the best way to present the data they collected through the survey.

Update 7: Research presentation

Student

Present your research in a creative way.

Here are some tips on how to organize your presentation: Presentation Styles

Picture 5: Presentation Styles (2019, November 26). 7 Presentation Styles to Make Your Presentation Shine. [Picture] Retrieved from: https://24slides.com/presentbetter/presentation-styles-to-shine/

 

Post your presentation or screencast (video, powerpoint slides, prezi) in Flipgrid.

Watch the video below to know more about Flipgrid.

Media embedded June 1, 2020

2Minute Teacher Tech. (2017, August 24). FlipGrid Tutorial. [Video]. Retrieved From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aZ523-HHBg

Comment on at least 2 classmates’ presentation and answer the Form (link below) with your feedback (peer-to-peer feedback).

Pilot research presentation Rubrics

 

Instructor

Students' presentations should extend the limits of traditional texts, previously centered on a graphocentric perspective, to include a multiplicity of forms of interaction between visual, static and mobile elements, which interact with the linguistic to constitute the students' production.

The use of these new digital tools allow the integration of multisemiotic, visual, static and mobile elements, which interact with the linguistic / verbal to constitute productions more aligned with those that characterize our increasingly digital interactions today.

Students should access Flipgrip to comment on each other’s presentation and go to the link provided in order to complete their peer-to-peer feedback. Instructor should provide the link to this material.

 

References

Cope, Bill; Kalantzis, Mary (2017). E-learning Ecologies: Principles for New Learning and Assessment. New York: Routledge.

Kalantzis, M.; Cope B. (2008). Language education and multiliteracies. In: MAY, S.; HORNBERGER, N. (Eds.). Encyclopedia of language and education. 2.ed. New York: Springer Science.

Cope, B.; Kalantzis, M. (2000) Multiliteracies: literacy learning and the design of social futures. Londres: Routledge.

Kalantzis, M.; Cope B. (2012). New Learning: elements of a science of education. 2nd ed. Australia: Cambridge University Press.

Howell, Emily; Reinking, David; Kaminski, Rebbeca. (2015). Writing as Creative Design: Constructing Multimodal Arguments in a Multiliteracies Framework. Journal of Literacy and Technology 2, Volume 16, Number 1, pp 02-36.

Saidy, C (2018). Beyond Words on the Page: Using Multimodal Composing to Aid in the Transition to First-Year Writing. TETYC. Vol. 45, No. 3, 255-273.

Miller, Suzanne M., & McVee, Mary B. (2012). Multimodal composing in classrooms: Learning and teaching for the digital world. New York, NY: Routledge.

Edwards-Groves, C. (2011). The multimodal writing process: Changing Practices in Contemporary Classrooms. Language and Education, 25(1), 49-64. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2010.523468

Albinagorta, Carla. (2019, November 26). 7 Presentation Styles to Make Your Presentation Shine. Retrieved from: https://24slides.com/presentbetter/presentation-styles-to-shine/

Media References

Picture 1: Kalantzis, M.; Cope B. (2012). New Learning: elements of a science of education. 2nd ed. Australia: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 1, p. 31.

Picture 2: Survey (s.d). Retrieved from: https://afrinic.net/ast/afrinic-survey-2019.png

Picture 3: Survey methods. (s.d) [Picture]. Retrieved from: https://storage.googleapis.com/gd-wagtail-prod-assets/images/Survey_Methods_connecting_w.max-4000x2000.jpegquality-90.png

Picture 4: Report (s.d) [Picture]. Retrieved from: https://cdn.searchenginejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/how-your-digital-agency-can-leverage-client-reports-to-prove-value-5debc3863d361-760x400.png

Picture 5: Presentation Styles (2019, November 26). 7 Presentation Styles to Make Your Presentation Shine. [Picture] Retrieved from: https://24slides.com/presentbetter/presentation-styles-to-shine/

Steely Library (2014, July 28). Developing a Research Question [Video]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWLYCYeCFak

What is a survey (s.d). Retrieved from: https://www.qualtrics.com/experience-management/research/survey-basics/

Study.com (s.d) What Is Survey Research? Definition, Methods & Types. [Video]. Retrieved from: https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-survey-research-definition-methods-types.html

Elon University Poll. (2014, September 26). A survey in 10 steps. [Video]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1MYM35qUr8

Elon University Poll. (2014, September 26). 7 tips for good survey questions. [Video]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq_fhTuY1hw

Questionpro. (2020, February 11). The online survey software for efficient research. [Video]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBDtm1548iQ&feature=emb_logo

2Minute Teacher Tech. (2017, August 24). FlipGrid Tutorial. [Video]. Retrieved From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aZ523-HHBg