Mini Multimodal Project

For my mini multimodal project, I decided to experiment a bit with Dipity – a website that allows users to create their own interactive timelines. I chose to do mine on one of my favorite authors, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. For the timeline, I didn't feel as though the images were that important. They simply create an aesthetically pleasing visual to accompany the text and make each point stand out on the timeline. That being said, I really enjoyed making my interactive timeline although mine is only half-complete as it is right now. Searching for information, condensing that information, and placing it in the timeline was an engaging activity. I like the visual aspect of the timeline as well. Users just click and drag and it is useful to see when each event takes place in relation to other events. I can see these timelines being extremely helpful to students especially if they are used as review or as study guides because the way they are setup is very clean, simplistic, and easy to navigate. There are very few distracting, unnecessary details added to these timelines – just the relevant facts in sequential order. This is because the person setting up the timeline is forced to restrict what they write in order to stay relevant to the timeframe and heading that they create. The creator is specifically writing about the most important, noteworthy points in the subject's life. I can see myself using interactive timelines in my own teachings for this very reason. They are a wonderful way to ensure the student is staying on track and focusing on the bigger, most important points. One of my criticisms though with the site is that the citing aspect of it isn't too great. You only provide a link to where you found your information; Dipity doesn't ask for authors, dates, or any other important citation information. That being said, having students provide a link to their source is a step in the right direction (assuming that they don't have any experience with sourcing). 

When I think about the alternative, that is, just typing out a biography of Kurt Vonnegut Jr's life, the interactive timeline's appeal becomes all the more apparent. In order for students to learn, they need to be engaged; their interest must be piqued. Multimodal projects like the interactive timeline give students that extra level of engagement. Even if they are not creating their own timeline, simply viewing them is more engaging than, say, reading over one's notes or reading a biography. 

Here is a link to my own timeline: http://www.dipity.com/rosie1/The-Life-of-Kurt-Vonnegut-Jr/

The first half is a bit more complete in terms of information given. If I were to further edit this, I would write synopses for each novel that Kurt Vonnegut Jr. wrote as well as write a bit more about his later life and what sort of jobs and happenings occupied his time.  That being said,

I found a blog by Dr. Charles Forceville. He writes about multimodality and provides examples and ideas as to how we can present the idea of multimodality to students.