Multimodal and Multimedia

Our conceptions of language and communication have increasingly been changed by the introduction of technology and its digital capabilities. Also, by the increased availability of different modes of displaying digital information, it is no surprise that many more schools are encouraging the ideas of multimodal and multimedia in classrooms. "Learning environments that provide learners with multiple representations offer opportunities for greater interactivity, and complementarity," (Gilakjani et al, 2011).

    The correlation between multimodal and multimedia is crucial because it allows teachers to not only use several ways of producing content but also allows multiple ways of displaying information to support the needs of all children. Beauchamp, (2012) suggests, “Multimodal capability describes the facility of ICT to combine various modes (multimodal), such as visual, sounds and text, which are displayed through a variety of media (multimedia).”

The different modes for teaching act as ‘vehicles for learning’ because children can participate with their preferred way of learning, such as Visual, Aural, Gestural, Spatial or Linguistic through various ways of media such as Screens, tablets, noticeboards, apps, etc.

Due to the expanding nature of multimedia that exists, it is not surprising that innovative methods are being used in schools. Many of the methods that are progressively being used, include, Virtual Reality Headsets, Aurasma, QUIVER which is increasingly popular due to its ability to bring images to life, and Holograms. These methods are based as the future of education and will certainly impact on the individuals learning because it will expand their minds with the unthinkable. The exposure to these methods will inevitably become important because children can experience different worlds within the comfort of the classroom and expand their minds for the good by using their own creativity without the need for teachers to be present in class. But it should not overshadow the importance of the basic writing and language skills that children require to experiment with the new technological ways of learning.

Beauchamp, G. (2012) Chapter 1: What is ICT in the Primary School?: Tools and Techniques. In ICT in the Primary School: From Pedagogy to practice. Pearson- Books.

Gilakjani, A., Ismail, H. & Ahmadi, S. (2011). The Effect of Multimodal Learning Models on Language Teaching and Learning. Theory and practice in Language Studies. Vol 1 (10), pp. 1321- 1327.