abstract
In May 2007, the Department of English at Utah State University (USU) redesigned its computer lab to increase mobility and collaboration during writing projects. Our study shows that despite the Professional and Technical Communication (PTC) field’s efforts to promote writing as a socially active, collaborative practice, many students view computer labs as spaces for conducting isolated, single-authored work. In this article, we discuss how a combination of movable furniture and mobile technology, including wireless access and laptops, can enhance student collaboration in group-based writing assignments. The lab included both desktop and laptop seating areas, so the authors created a modified worksite analysis designed to evaluate team collaboration in this new layout. These material changes in the lab allow students to configure the space according to their needs, offering them some measure of control over three crucial elements of successful collaboration: formality, presence, and confidentiality.

accompanying materials

• article (pdf)

see also

• The Learning Suite grant

abstract
This website accompanies an article appearing in the print version of Composition Studies entitled “Integrating Multimodality in Composition Curricula: Survey Methodology and Results from a CCCC Research Initiative Grant.” In that article the authors provided methodologies and outcomes of a national survey conducted in 2005 to discover how instructors use multimodal composition practices in their writing classrooms and research. Supported by a research initiative of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, the survey was designed to identify instruction in which students and faculty members produce (not just analyze) multimodal texts. The aim of that article is to present a snapshot of instructors working to integrate these new semiotic forms into writing classes. The data in this report includes the questions from and responses to the 141-question survey.

accompanying materials

• data website

abstract
This article describes methodology and outcomes of a national survey conducted in 2005 to discover how instructors use multimodal composition practices in their writing classrooms and research. The authors describe the procedures they used to collect and analyze data from writing teachers about the production, distribution, interpretation, and consumption of multimodal composition. Supported by a research initiative of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, the survey was designed to identify the instruction occurring at institutions with a nascent or established curriculum of multimodal pedagogy in which students and faculty members produce texts that combine words, images, and sound as composing resources. The aim of this project was to produce a snapshot of those programs working to define multimodal composition and to integrate these new semiotic forms into writing classes.

accompanying materials

• article (pdf)

see also

• Data from the CCCC-Sponsored “Survey of Multimodal Pedagogies in Writing Programs” in technical reports.