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Review: What is an ePortfolio?
ePortfolios are multimodal compositions in which people argue that they are members of one or more Discourses by curating a collection of their performances.
To create ePortfolios, people
Collect artifacts from throughout their careersSelect artifacts from that collection that align with the activity of the Discourses they want to join or with which they want continue their involvementReflect, explain, or argue that their selections qualify them as a member of the DiscourseDesign, build, and publish a multimodal composition that embodies their central arguments
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Multimodal Composition
Students draw on multiple semiotic resources—including written, oral, visual, electronic, and gestural/non-verbal—as they engage in meaning-making activities
The idea of “multiliteracies” forwarded by the New London Group in 1996 suggests that literacy is semiotic and not limited to a single mode or language
Scholars in rhetoric and composition often imply this conception of meaning making when they speak about “composition” or even “writing”
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Digital Affordances
ePortfolios enable students to collect and curate a wider range of performances than traditional portfolios
Learning-outcome design, assignment design, and assessment need to acknowledge the range of semiotic resources upon which students can draw
ePortfolios, in essence, remediate the curriculum: not in the pejorative sense, but in the way they “mediate again,” causing us to reexamine the performances in which we have our students engage
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Designing solid performance opportunities
Provide guidelines about the range of appropriate performances
Explore the expectations
Provide supporting materials and activities
Gardner, Traci. Designing Writing Assignments. Urbana, Ill: National Council of Teachers of English, 2008. Print.
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Remediating Assignments
Who will read the text? Can I choose an alternative audience?
What stance will students take as writers? Can the assignment as for an unusual tone?
When does the topic take place? Can the assignment focus on an alternative time frame?
Where will the background information and detail come from? Can the assignment call for alternative research sources?
Can students write something other than a traditional essay? Can the assignment call for alternative genres or publication media?
Gardner, Traci. Designing Writing Assignments. Urbana, Ill: National Council of Teachers of English, 2008. Print.
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Remediation and Genre
Producing representative literature reviews or annotated subject bibliographies
Framing a research question and designing an experiment
Creating, organizing, translating, visualizing, or introducing data
Designing questions, written protocols, and a research framework for interviews, plus conducting, transcribing, translating, editing, and introducing the results
Making informed comments on widely-read weblogs or developing and participating in a class blog
Writing documentary pitches, scripts, and storyboards
Shooting, editing, publishing, and publicizing a film
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Remediation and Genre
Composing op eds and other journalistic pieces for real submission to publications
Revising Wikipedia articles or contributing to a course wiki
Composing arts reviews for print or digital environments
Writing, recording, and submitting for radio opportunities
Developing a disciplinary magazine with a team of writers and editors, then “selling” that magazine to people in the field in a formal presentation
Developing finely tuned and succinct field notes in an investigation
Writing complete notes and copy for use in a radio broadcast or sports announcing
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Alternatives: Audiences, Timeframes, Sources, Genres
Gardner, Traci. Designing Writing Assignments. Urbana, Ill: National Council of Teachers of English, 2008. Print.
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Alternatives: Assignments, Tools
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Mobile Assisted Language Learning
MicroevidenceVideo, dialogue, and text captured on a mobile device
AppsStudents work with apps in target language in and outside of class
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Domain of One’s Own – Multimodal Composition
Domain setup
Blog posts (cyclical)
Aggregation, curation (with accompanying interpretation)
Online essay (or narrative)
Multimodal essay (or narrative)
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Domain of One’s Own – Multimodal Composition
Visual representation of data/reading
(Stand-alone) Video or presentation
Application-mediated interaction or collaboration
Mode-inflected genres (writing to learn)
ePortfolio/Reflection
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“Remediated” Evaluation Essay
Early, S. (n.d.). ENG 101 Assignments | Shanna Early. Retrieved from http://shannaearly.com/eng-101/assignments/
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Broadly sketch a new or revised assignment for your course that will enable students to achieve one or more of the learning outcomes you developed during the previous exercises.
Design this assignment with stages (scaffolding) so that in the process of its completion you can provide formative feedback as the student produces a genre that meaningfully intersects with your field.
Note what you’ll have to cover with instruction to help facilitate good performances from students.
Compile this information on the “Assignments” page of your mini portfolio.
Folio Thinking