Creating multimodal texts in the classroom : shifting teaching practices, influencing student outcomes

Drawing upon literature, this chapter investigates what changes occur to teaching practices when teachers incorporate the creation of multimodal texts, mediated by technology, into their classroom curriculum, and what influence these changes have on student outcomes. The shifts in teaching practices identified include explicit teaching of different semiotic modes to create a text, the inclusion of authentic tasks for creating multimodal texts, the use of a collaborative approach to the construction of a text, and changes to assessment practices. The influence on students' outcomes relate to learning of content, knowledge, skills, and level of engagement in learning.