Sites of Possibility: Figured Worlds of Identity and Agency in Academic Writing Through Digital Multimodality

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Reframing Digital and Multimodal Literacies and Rethinking Online Learning

Abstract

Multimodality is a buzzword, yet print-based writing remains the privileged mode. This case study, drawn from a multi-year formative experiment, examines what resources students use when integrating everyday literacies in writing for school. Data included seven student-created Digital Self Portraits designed in platforms like Tumblr, Flowlab game creator, and Pinterest. Artifacts were analyzed in multimodal discourse analyses and a figured worlds framework. The results call attention to the ways in which students used tools and resources to exercise agency as writers, resisting fixed roles, telling their own stories, and building relationships with peers through languaging. Digital writing spaces, then, are sites of possibility for equitable education, expanding our notions not only of writing, but also how identity informs writing processes.

Author

• Fawn Elise Canady, Sonoma State University