While our discussions in the e-Learning Ecologies MOOC often touch on the "what" of multimodality (like digital media and multiliteracies), I want to introduce a concept that focuses on the "how" of cognitive shift: Transmediation.

What is Transmediation?

Coined by semiotician Charles Suhor and expanded by scholars like Marjorie Siegel, Transmediation is the process of translating meanings from one sign system (mode) to another. It isn’t just "moving" information; it is a generative process where a learner takes the content understood in one mode (e.g., a written poem) and re-represents it in a different mode (e.g., a sculpture or a digital dance).

Because every mode has different affordances—what it can and cannot do—the learner must re-conceptualize the core idea to fit the new medium. This creates a "synesthetic" moment of deep learning where the student discovers new facets of the concept that were invisible in the original mode.

Transmediation in Practice: The "Science-to-Storyboard" Shift

A powerful example of this is found in middle-school science. When students read a dense text about Cellular Mitosis, they often memorize definitions. However, when tasked with transmediating that text into a stop-motion animation:

Linguistic to Visual: They must decide what a "centromere" actually looks like (Shape/Color).
Visual to Spatial/Temporal: They must determine the rhythm and timing of the cell division (Movement).
Synthesis: By the time the video is finished, the student hasn't just "read" about mitosis; they have "authored" it across multiple semiotic planes.

"Transmediation requires students to engage in a mental 'cross-mapping' that forces a deeper level of abstraction than simple repetition." — Marjorie Siegel (1995)

Visualizing the Process

Imagine the cognitive leap required to move between these points:

Source: A musical score (Audio/Symbolic).
Target: A mathematical graph representing frequency and amplitude (Visual/Logic).
The Result: The learner understands "harmony" not just as a sound, but as a ratio.

References & Resources

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Literacy Worldwide: From Print to Digital via Transmediation

Exploring "Transmediation" in Multimodal Learning