BLOG POST 6

Critically evaluated the way in which your understanding of multiliteracies and the selection of ICT related activities supports the development of your Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge.

Multiliteracies refer to a shift from the dominant written print text to acknowledge the many varied ways that literacy is practiced in the new millennium (New Literacies & Classroom Practice, n.d.). It includes semiotic codes that consist of linguistic, visual, audio, gestural and spatial meaning and the multimodal patterns of meaning, i.e. a combination of all the codes, as suggested by the New London Group (Cope & Kalantzis, 1996 cited in New Literacies & Classroom Practice, n.d.).

From my understanding, the project fits this approach as the content is delivered in such a way that incorporates combinations of these semiotic codes in digital contexts. It encompasses the TPCK framework where there is integration between Technology, Pedagogy, Content and Knowledge (Mishra & Kochler, 2006).

 In terms of content, the lesson is designed for students to learn the metalanguage surrounding film techniques, its functions and purposes in a movie. This is aimed at elevating pupils’ knowledge in the content area. In pedagogy, the lesson is rather student-directed as they have the freedom on the pace of completing the lesson while the teacher acts more of a facilitator in class. In addition, the manner in which the lesson is presented through technology complements the other components and is a combination of multiliteracies, particularly the images which provide visual aid in representing the terminologies, video clips that show visual and audio explanations to the jargons, particularly in giving meaning to students’ understanding and interactive games that aim at assessing their comprehension. 

This helps me understand the idea of multiliteracies as a concept that influences the way learning happens, its setting and is considered as a diverse way of providing meaning to a lesson. It is indeed a more dynamic approach to teaching a class and creates better depth in learning.