Centre for Research in Writing - Research Seminar - Writing in the Digital Age: Technology, Collaboration, and Multimodality

Writing in the Digital Age: Technology, Collaboration, and Multimodality

Dr. Mimi Li (Texas A&M University)

In the digital age, new technologies have revolutionized the ways we communicate and construct knowledge and have also reshaped the traditional notions of writing and literacy, posing new challenges and opportunities for L2 teachers and students. This invited talk will introduce four up-to-date areas in L2 writing and technology that the speaker has researched: 1) computer-based collaborative writing, 2) computer-mediated peer response, 3) computer-mediated teacher feedback, and 4) digital multimodal composing. The speaker will discuss each of the four areas by explaining the rationales, research strands, and pedagogical implications. In particular, she will zoom in her own individual/collaborative research studies on a) Wiki-based collaborative writing with ESL students, b) peer response via Turnitin PeerMark with first-year-writing students, c) teacher multimodal feedback via Screencast-O-Matic with pre-service teachers, and d) multimodal composing using Google Docs or Visme with foreign language students. Illustrative screenshots from each project will be provided to better illustrate the affordances of new technologies for interaction and collaboration. The audience will be informed of extensive options for implementing digital L2 writing practices and get motivated to undertake technology- supported writing inquiries in their own instructional contexts.