Using Web 2.0 Technologies to Teach 'Literacy for Life': How to use MultimodalMatters.com to Facilitate Transfer in First-Year Composition

Abstract

Composition programs across the country have re-imagined their first-year composition (FYC) courses in response to student needs and have chosen to incorporate technology to improve transfer of knowledge and skills. Middle Tennessee State University's English department is transitioning to a revised FYC course called "Literacy for Life." As I prepared to teach this course, I consulted scholars such as Andrea A. Lunsford, Rebecca S. Nowacek, Susan McLeod, Cheryl E. Ball, Gail E. Hawisher, and Cynthia L. Selfe. These scholars had me reconsidering my pedagogy and seeing the need for improved access to Web 2.0 technologies in FYC. The creation of MultimodalMatters.com allows instructors and students to utilize Web 2.0 technologies within an online space which provides the instructor the ability to encourage appropriateness, manage distribution, and address any technical difficulties. On Multimodalmatters.com, instructors saw the greatest potential for transfer with NotaBene, WordPress, and Media Galleries, noting the transfer facets of improved meta-cognitive awareness, knowledge of real-world audiences, and assessment of new genres as particularly evident.