Digital Technologies for Multimodal Projects

English 2 is a first-year writing course, and the multimodal project is just one element within this larger framework. The purpose of the project is for students to think rhetorically about about how to make arguments in public spaces, and how to work within genres that are more flexible and more widely accessible than that of the college essay.

This isn’t Madison Avenue, in other words, and we don’t expect that students will create digital projects worthy of an upper division design or media course. Take a look at our collection of student samples to see what first-year writing students at Lehigh have created without too much technological difficulty or preparation.

What teachers in our writing program have found is that it often works best to provide students with an array of options for the multimodal assignment. That way they can choose to compose with the technologies with which they have some familiarity, or at least an interest in learning. Some teachers do provide some in-class instruction on how to use different software packages, but others focus on helping students choose the technologies that will work best for them.

Here are some possible technology resources for students and teachers.

Types of Digital Projects:

Still Images

• Posters, Advertisements, Flyers, Infographics
  • Technology Options: Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop, Canva, Picktochart, GIMP, Inkscape

Audio

• Podcasts
  • Technology Options: Audacity, GarageBand

Video

• PSAs, Short Films, Montages, Mashups
  • Technology Options: Lehigh One Button Studio, iMovie, Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro

Publishing

• Web pages, Social Media Pages
  • Technology Options: Wix, Squarespace, tumblr, Instagram, Twitter