Understanding Faculty Multimodal Literacy Practices: A Case Study of Two Postsecondary Classrooms

Abstract

Multimodality is a growing pedagogical strategy for both in-person and online instruction that arose from instructional practices adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic. This qualitative case study explored how faculty in two undergraduate postsecondary classrooms leveraged their multimodal literacies to provide learning opportunities across both in-person and online classroom spaces. In addition, this study explored how university students embedded in their classroom contexts perceived the multimodal instruction of these faculty in both in-person and online spaces. Findings from this study revealed the pedagogical grounding that influences faculty’s multimodal practices, as well as how faculty leveraged modes in varied and complex ways to support student meaning making during structured in-person learning environments. Additionally, faculty participants demonstrated different levels of transduction and transmediation techniques as they shifted semiotic and modal uses into the online course space. Implications from this study surface the need to focus professional development opportunities on the impact of multimodal literacy practices on students meaning making opportunities for in-person and online course instruction.