Welcome to this Literacies Learning Module. Using Scholar, we prompt a number of different kinds of interaction between course participants, all of which use digital media and collaborative writing processes. Our Scholar medium is our Multiliteracies message!

So, what is 'Multiliteracies'? This term captures two aspects of meaning making in the era of our contemporary communications environment, two kinds of 'multi', if you like. The first is the multimodality of contemporary meaning making in which text, image, sound and other media are used together and the same time to make meaning. Just look at a social media activity feed, and Scholar's activity stream, and you will see this mutlimodality at work. The second is the multiplicity of different ways of meaning. Once, literacy was just about correct spelling and grammar, as if there was one best and correct way to communicate. Now, we explore literacies in the plural. A social media post is different from a report on a science experiment, is different from a personal opinion blogpost, is different from an email, is different from a text message. Literacies are about creating a message that is right for the context and medium, and contexts and media are always different.

Scholar is a web discussion and writing environment that supports multimodal literacies. As well as text, your 'writing' in Scholar can include images, videos, audio, dataset, and even embedded web media—which means that you can do traditional literacy here, and also broaden out your meaning-making to create multimodal communications. Scholar is also very social. In this Learning Module, you will be discussing literacies issues and topics with your peers in the Community Area of Scholar. You will be taking surveys. You will also be creating multimodal works in the Creator area of Scholar, peer reviewing each others works, then revising for submission to your community admin, and publication to your personal portfolio page in Community. You will not only be exploring the subject of literacies. In the spirit of our time, this will itself be a very multimodal and very social experience of literacies.

Comment: Discuss the ways in which literacy is changing, and why the word 'literacies' might be more appropriate today. Read over each others' comments as they come through in the comments area and respond to each other's thoughts by mentioning the other person, @Their Name.

Meaning-making is a process of representation (sense-making) and communication (in which a message prompt is interpreted by another person). This update analyses the design process through which people take available resources for meaning, and use these as building blocks for designing new meanings. Although they are often similar, newly made meanings are never quite the same as any previous meanings. These ‘redesigned’ meanings then enter the world. At this point the world has been transformed, even if in the smallest of ways. Then the cycle of meaning-making can start over again. Even though in the schools of our recent past and still today we have separated out literacies as a singular subject that deals with the mechanics of reading and writing, our processes of meaning are always at least to some extent multimodal, bringing together written, visual, spatial, tactile, gestural, audio and oral modes. This is particularly true in the contemporary era. The new, digital media are intrinsically multimodal. This update suggests an approach to ‘design analysis’. It is a prelude to the following sections that outline a multimodal grammar, one that will help us describe and understand meaning-making across different modes.

To explore these issues further, read the supporting material on the Literacies website.

 

Comment Below: What are the benefits and challenges of a multimodal approach to literacies?

Make an Update: Describe an important site of multimodal communication in your life, or your students lives. How might a multimodal analysis of meaning prove useful? How does this compare with traditional notions of literacy?

 

In this update and the next, we examine written language, beginning in this update with a discussion of different approaches to learning about the connections between the sounds of speaking and the written representation of these sounds. Here, we explore approaches to reading, or making sense from written meanings.

To explore these issues further, read the supporting material on the Literacies website.

Comment Below: Why is reading so controversial? What's behind the difference in approach?

Make an Update: Analyse an approach to reading or reading program that you have encountered, or used, or would like to find out more about. Use the concepts introduced in this section to explore the pedagogy that underlies this approach or program.

This update continues to examine written language, this time from the perspective of representing and communicating meaning by writing. We begin by looking at how making meaning in the written mode develops with a discussion of how speaking and writing differ. We then explore alternative approaches to describing how written language works, from the traditional grammar of didactic pedagogy, to Chomsky’s transformational-generative grammar, to Halliday’s functional approach. We end the update with our own Multiliteracies approach, which describes what we call the ‘design elements’ of written texts, and a discussion of the design process.

To explore these issues further, see the supporting material on the Literacies website.

Comment Below: How and why is writing different from speaking? What are the implications for literacy teaching and learning?

Make an Update: Find an approach to learning to write that you have encountered, or used, or would like to know more about. Describe and analyse the approach using the concepts introduced in this section.

This update explores the ways in which we make visual meanings. It offers a design analysis of the visual mode for the purposes of literacies learning and teaching. We refer to two types of visual meanings or images. Perceptual images are the things that you see with your body’s eye – your vision. Mental images are the things you see in your mind’s eye – your envisionings. The world does not just present itself for us to simply see. Our minds make visual sense of the world through what we call perceptual imaging. We can also envision things that we cannot for the moment see by using our imaginations. Growingly aware babies make sense of the world first by seeing it and making mental images, only later learning words for what they see. There are both similarities and differences between visual images and language. The similarities in these two symbolic ways of making meaning allow us to refer to the same things in language or in a visual image. There are also important differences. Visual images and words can never be quite the same.

To explore these issues further, see the supporting material on the Literacies website.

Comment Below: How are images like and unlike language?

Make an Update: Find some examples of curriculum resources or classrooms where teachers engage their learners in meaning-making texts that move between images and writing. How do these experiences highlight the power of synaesthesia—the process of shifting from one mode to another—and integrated, multimodal learning?

This update explores three more important modes of meaning. Spatial meanings are framed by shape, proximity and movement. Tactile meanings capture our interactions with objects. Gestural meanings are bodily expressions, ranging from hand and arm movement, to facial expressions, to bodily presentations, such as clothing, to body language. These modes of meaning are closely interconnected and offer productive connections to oral and written meanings in multimodal literacies environments.

To explore these issues further, see the supporting material on the Literacies website.

Comment: In what ways do spatial, tactile and gestural meanings frame spoken or written language? How does multimodal analysis help us to interpret meanings in language?

Make an Update: Describe and analyse a pedagogical practice that locates linguistic meanings in the context of spatial, tactile or gestural meanings.

Audio and oral meanings share the sense of hearing as the primary medium of reception. Audio meanings range from ambient or background sounds in our environment, to sounds that have symbolic meaning, and to the complex meanings represented in music. Oral meanings carry with them the basic qualities of audio meanings as we modulate volume and pitch in the sounds of speaking. Despite the important connections, there are large and significant differences between the ways in which language is formed in the oral and written modes. These differences are what motivates mode-shifting in communications and learning, not just between oral and written meanings, but across the full range of modes of meaning.

To explore these issues further, see the supporting material on the Literacies website.

Comment Below: Of what significance are the differences between speaking and writing for literacies teaching and learning?

Make an Update: Analyze an example of a curriculum resource or practice which connects audio and/or oral meanings to reading or writing. Use this example to explain the dimensions of multimodal literacies pedagogy.

 

In this update, we explore the similarities and differences between communication in humans and other animals. One key difference is our human capacity to apply symbols to meanings in the world, and to connect symbols with each other into symbol systems. Symbols represent general things – the concept of ‘dog’ as distinct from this dog, Fido. Although young children learn the word ‘dog’ at a young age, it is not until they are older that they use the word as a concept. Conceptualisation can also occur in the other modes – for instance, in visual or gestural meanings. All academic disciplines use literacies as a basis for communicating knowledge, and also for learners to represent knowledge to themselves in their thinking. Literacies, for this reason, are the most basic of all basics in education.

To explore these issues further, see the supporting material on the Literacies website.

Comment Below: In what ways are literacies integral to learning across many subject areas?

Make an Update: Take a curriculum area other than literacy/language learning itself. Locate an example that illustrates the power of literacies to represent academic knowledge. Explain the role of literacies in the example you have chosen.

In this update, we explore the range of learner differences that impact upon literacies learning. We outline concepts with which to classify and interpret these differences among learners. We discuss, in general terms, how we approach learner differences in relation to literacies learning. Then we explore in depth two particularly important dimensions of learner difference: age and other-language background.

To explore these issues further, see the supporting material on the Literacies website.

Comment Below: How do differences between learners affect literacies outcomes?

Make an Update: Take one dimension of learner differences. What are the most appropriate literacies strategies to address this dimension of difference?

 

This update introduces the idea of standards, which specify expected learning outcomes at different levels of learning across a variety of subject areas – literacy or literacies, for instance. Assessments measure student outcomes against these standards. We contrast the fundamental assumptions and processes of standards or achievement assessments with intelligence assessments. We also examine the differences between diagnostic versus formative and summative assessments, norm-referenced versus criterion-referenced or self-referenced assessments, and select response versus supply response assessments. Finally, we explore the possibilities of bringing formative assessment (providing direct feedback to learners) closer to summative assessment (providing a retrospective view of what learners have achieved), particularly in new-media learning environments.

Here is a paper is a paper on the latest developments in writing and other assessments:

To explore these issues further, see the supporting material on the Literacies website.

Comment: What do you see in the future of literacies assessment?

Make an Update: Select a literacies assessment method or technology. Identify how your selected method or technology works—what are its strengths and weaknesses?

Take one of the concepts introduced in this learning module. Or explore a related concept of your own choosing that is relevant to this learning module's themes. Define the concept referring to the theoretical and research literature, and provide examples of this concept at work in pedagogical practice.

A theory work should be 2000 words or more in length. Ideally, it should include media such as images, diagrams, tables, embedded videos (either uploaded into CGScholar, or embedded from other sites), web links and other digital media. Be sure to source all material that is quoted or otherwise used. Each work must have references "element" or section, including references to at least 5 scholarly articles or books, plus any other necessary or relevant references, including to websites and other media.

If you are new to CGScholar, visit Section 3 in the Getting Started in Scholar learning module to find out how the Creator app works.

Following is the knowledge processes rubric, against which others will review your work, and against which you will do your self-review at the completion of your final draft. You can view this rubric while you draft your work at Creator => Feedback => Reviews => Rubric. The rubric explores four main knowledge processes, the background and rationale for which is described in the papers at this page.

 

Write a case study of an innovative literacy practice, such as one that uses digital media in the learning process. This could be a reflection practice you have already used, or a new or unfamiliar practice which you would like to explore. Use theory concepts introduced in this course, including theory concepts defined by members of the group in their published Work 1, with references and links to the published works of the other course participants.

Following is the knowledge processes rubric, against which others will review your work, and against which you will do your self-review at the completion of your final draft. You can view this rubric while you draft your work at Creator => Feedback => Reviews => Rubric. The rubric explores four main knowledge processes, the background and rationale for which is described in the papers at this page.

 

Create a learning module in Scholar which demonstrates how you would translate some of the ideas and principles of this course into practice. A learning module is a hybrid work which crosses the legacy educational practices of lesson plan, syllabus and textbook. Unlike a lesson plan which is mainly written for a teacher’s design purposes, a learning module has both teacher and learner sides. On the left side of the screen you speak to learners in “classroom discourse,” however in the case of the learning module, in a dialogical mode, rather like social media. On the right side of the screen, you speak to other teachers in the professional discourse of the curriculum and pedagogy. Unlike a syllabus, a learning module contains content as well as an outline of coverage. And unlike a textbook which typically summarizes and transmit content that learners are to consume and remember, a learning module curates a variety of web content (links, embedded media etc.) and establishes a dialogue with and between learners which positions them as active seekers and producers of knowledge.

Your learning module should:

1. have a clear rationale in terms of learning objectives and, if applicable, curriculum standards.
2. include at least 8 updates, each of which on the left side includes at least some curated media and a comment request that will prompt rich dialogue among students, and on the right side speaks to teachers about the underlying pedagogical rationale, possible supplementary resources, teaching suggestions, and standards mapping.
3. include least one peer reviewed project , with peer assessment rubric.
4. include at least one information or knowledge survey.
5. demonstrate pedagogical coherence and completeness. Optionally, creators could use the Learning by Design pedagogy, described here.
6. be well formed in terms of the learning module two column format and heading structure, with all media and other curated content fully sourced.

For model K-12 learning modules, visit the Literacies and Learning by Design collections in the Scholar Bookstore. For model college and higher education learning modules, visit the Higher Education collection. For a selection of learning modules created by participants in the Learning Design and Leadership program, visit that collection. For instructions on how to create a Learning Module in Scholar, visit section 5 of the Getting Started in CGScholar learning module.

Following is the peer review rubric for the learning module, against which others will review your work, and against which you will do your self-review at the completion of your final draft. You can view this rubric while you draft your work at Creator => Feedback => Reviews => Rubric. The rubric explores four main knowledge processes, the background and rationale for which is described in the papers at this page. If you want to use the L-by-D icons to mark activity types explicitly, you can copy and paste web icons located at this link.

 

Create an annotated bibliography of approximately 5 references. These should mostly be different from the ones you present in your updates.

The purpose of an annotated bibliography is to demonstrate that you can select the key publications of scholars who have also addressed a particular topic, as peer-reviewed articles or books. Your commentary will demonstrate that you can make astute synthesis and analysis of each publication, and connect publications in a way that is indicative of your understanding of the topic addressed in these publications.

Finding and Selecting References

• On the web. Be sure to supplement a general web search with Google Scholar. Not only does this narrow your search to scholarly articles and books. It has useful information about how widely a work and an author has been cited. However, be careful with this information—quantity does not necessarily mean quality or relevance to your interests. Less cited works may be very good or highly relevant.
• In the library. Search for journal articles and e-books that are behind paywalls on the web.
• Read review articles. Look for review articles that address your topic.
• Follow the gossip! When you find an article or book that you really like, or that you find very helpful, look for who this author is citing. If their work is helpful, they will probably have a good eye for things that you will also find helpful. Look out particularly for citations that may be obscure and not necessarily popular in the sense of garnering a large number of citations. Think of academic writing as a kind of gossip network. Who is talking about whom?

Web Tips

• Annotated Bibliographies
• How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography
• Annotated Bibliography Samples
• Sample Annotated Bibliography
• How to Write an Annotated Bibliography

Requirements and Considerations

Write an introduction to your annotated bibliography which explains your interest, your topic, and your research question. What makes this your general field, and why are you here?

Cite each reference formally and in full. Write one or two paragraphs for each reference, summarizing its content and explaining its significance to the field and to the issues you will be addressing in your dissertation.

Peer Review Rubric and Annotation Codes

When addressing the peer review rubric, consider:

• Your introductory rationale for selecting and grouping these works (your experience, interest, project focus)
• The concepts and theory used by the scholar(s) who authored the book or article.
• Main empirical findings, if the work is based on empirical study.
• The methodology of the work, and how this has been usefully insightful in this case.
• The significance of the work in terms of its impact on the academic field, and the frequency with which it is cited. (Though of course, some works you may want to argue are important in their implications for the whole field, even if not widely known or cited.)
• Practical applications and real-world consequences, actual or potential. Creative and innovative extensions

If you have created an annotated bibliography in other courses in this program, do not include any references from there. Do not use references included in the course materials or in your or your peers' weekly updates. These should all be new references.

Use the following outline by creating the format in the CGScholar Structure tool:

• Introduction: Write an introduction to your annotated bibliography which describes the concept or issue you have decided to address and why, and the connection between the items you have selected
• Source 1/2/3/4/5 and a title or other brief descriptor
• Citation: Cite each reference formally and in full
• Search Terms Used or Author Key Words
• Source: If you can, include a PDF of the article or a book, or a link to its source.
• Summary: For each reference, summarize its content and questions. Use the following format as a guide: a) Key Concepts (The concepts and theory used by the scholar(s) who authored the book or article.) b)Theory or Theories Methodology and Research Design and how this has been usefully insightful in the study c) Findings d) Significance The significance of the work in terms of its impact on the academic field, and the frequency with which it is cited (e.g. in Google Scholar - though of course, some works you may want to argue are important in their implications for the whole field, even if not widely known or cited.) This may also include practical applications and real-world consequences, actual or potential and creative and innovative extensions.

Ask any questions or share suggestions in the comments area.

Choose an issue, theme or topic within the scope of this course and write a literature review of 2000 words or more, addressing this issue. If you have an idea for your dissertation already, you may wish to choose a topic that intersects with that idea.

The literature review should not merely be descriptive—it should be analytical and critical. However, at the same time, it should be a fair representation of the perspectives and voices of a range of people across the field. What are the main issues arising for this issue, theme or topic? The main challenges to be addressed? The questions being asked by the intellectual and practical leaders in relation to this issue?

Sources

• This may be a continuation of what you produced in your Annotated Bibliography.
• Include at least 10 scholarly sources.
• 5 of these sources must be new to you (not used in previous courses, admin updates, your or your peers' updates, or in your Annotated Bibliography).
• The remaining sources may be from your Annotated Bibliography, updates, etc.

Structure and Process

One possible structure for the literature review might be as follows:

1. Introduction: how this literature review ties into your experience and research Interests.
2. The issue, topic or theme: why it is significant and what are the challenges being addressed, as reported by the literature? (You may also wish to structure your literature review around sub-themes, in which case, be sure you cover points 2-6 in each of your subthemes.)
3. A synthesis of key concepts and theoretical frameworks, as reported by the literature: compare and contrast approaches.
4. A synthesis of methodologies of research and application employed to address these issues, topics and themes; their strengths and weaknesses, as reported by the literature.
5. A synthesis of main empirical findings and practical implications.
6. Gaps in the literature; open questions and where further work is needed.
7. Conclusion: where this issue is heading, the tasks ahead for people addressing this issue.
8. References: list sources cited, Including any media.

The Textual Features of the Genre, Literature Review

The literature review is a delicate play between the voices of the field, and the way you bring them together in a synthesis and interpretation. It will map out an issue, theme or topic, fairly representing varied voices, analyzing their differences, and critically interpreting the nuances.

References

• Boote, David N. and Penny Beile. 2005. "Scholars before Researchers: On the Centrality of the Dissertation Literature Review in Research Preparation." Educational Researcher 34(6):3–15.
• Galvan, Jose L. 2006. Writing a Literature Review: A Guide for Students of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Glendale CA: Pyrczak Publishing.
• Machi, Lawrence A. and Brenda T. McEvoy. 2016. The Literature Review. Thousand Oaks CA: Corwin.

Web Tips

Here are some resources addressing the textual dynamics of a literature review:

• Demystifying the Literature Review (UofI Library)
• Introduction to Literature Reviews
• The Genre of Research Articles: The Literature Review Section
• Genres in Academic Writing: Literature Reviews
• What Makes a Good or Bad Literature Review?
• What is a Literature Review?
• Literature Review Genre Conventions
• Write a Literature Review
• Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students (video)
• Literature Review Basics (link to more links)
• APA Citations (UofI Library)
• Write a Killer Literature Review (Udemy course)

References: On Academic Writing

You may also wish to take a moment to reflect on academic writing in general. Much academic writing is (frankly!) poor writing. Here are some readings and source books:

• Strunk, William and E.B. White. 1979. Elements of Style. New York NY: Longman. (A classic!)
• Sword, Helen. 2012. Stylish Academic Writing. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.
• The University of Chicago Press Editorial Staff. 2017. The Chicago Manual of Style. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press. Online edition.
• Coursera Academic Writing Course.

You cannot be too obsessive about style and textual consistency! Two requests:

Always proof everything you submit, including first drafts for peer review.
As a reviewer, always note typos and suggest textual revisions to peers using the annotations tool.

Peer Review Rubric and Annotation Codes

Some questions to address in the literature review:

• What motivates your concern for this issue?
• As a body of work, what practical questions does this literature set out to address?
• What is the empirical range addressed in this issue, theme or topic?
• Who are the most influential and most cited thinkers?
• What are the main theories, interpretative frameworks, or paradigms which order knowledge when addressing this issue, theme or topic?
• What kinds of research methodology are used?
• What range of practices does this field spawn? What are its most exciting and promising areas of innovation?

Ask any questions or share suggestions in the comments area.