Moving Beyond Online Text: Fostering Visual and Multimodal Discussions through Digital Artifact Creation
Abstract: Traditional asynchronous discussion forums can be enhanced by introducing the opportunity for learners to create a visual or multimodal digital artifact. The idea is to require students to choose from a “menu” of options to create a digital artifact that connects to and aligns with the key concepts from the topic in the course/workshop, etc. Examples include linking to related URL’s, creation of a podcast related to course ideas, using photo tools to share a collage of images related to the topic, and creation of a video with the learner’s own ideas. Each of these types of artifacts draws on specific technical background knowledge, so allowing for students to select which level of difficulty (easy, medium, advanced, above and beyond), learners can self-select a tool depending on level of difficulty.
Presider: Nalline Baliram, Seattle Pacific University