In a graduate seminar called "Introduction to Composition and Rhetoric," students worked in groups to create multimodal remixes of scholarly articles. Students contributed their work to Wikicomp, a project that aims to allow scholars in rhetoric and composition to remix existing articles from College Composition and Communication.
Students took their inspiration for this project from Jody Shipka's Toward a Composition Made Whole, which argues for an expansive definition of multimodal composition. In chapter four of that text, Shipka argues that a "mediated activity-based multimodal framework" presents a unique composition pedagogy that avoids the pitfalls of courses that focus on "the acquisition of discrete skill sets, skill sets that are often and erroneously treated as static and therefore universally acceptable across time and diverse communicative contexts" (86, 83). When composing, Shipka suggests, students should be afforded the opportunity to determine the product, purpose, processes, materials, and conditions under which their product will be experienced. She also asks students to create a Statement of Goals and Choices (SOGC), a document that explains the choices made and asks students to reflect on their process.
Students in the seminar put this approach to the test with their remixes, which could take any form. They were tasked with remixing one of two CCC articles:
Trimbur, John. 2000. "Composition and the Circulation of Writing." CCC 52: 188-219.
Yancey, Kathleen Blake. 2004. "Made Not Only in Words: Composition in a New Key." CCC 56: 297-328.
While remixing these articles, students determined the purpose of the composition, the processes and procedures to be used, the materials necessary, and the conditions under which they would like the audience to experience that composition.
