Symposium: Multimedia MTVs for Multimodal Digital Storytelling: Epistemic Commitments, Consequences, and ‘Confound-ances’

The scepticism many educators have for music television videos (MTVs) may explain why there is a limited body of research for its use in education. Unlike well-established newsreels and documentaries, MTVs are often perceived as somewhat lacking in educational value. However, the perceived superficial MTV with its fleeting edits, disconnected montages, sensationalised and sexualised content can actually be the very features that make it a contemporary educational tool of choice. Music videos can be a compelling means to learn about culture and media for younger learners. This attribute can be employed to enrich creative writing pedagogies by adding much-needed context and appeal for crafting engaging writing assignments. In reimagining the multimedia MTV for educational purposes, this study drew upon Kress' and van Leeuwen's semiotic principles of multimodality. Using a self-study research methodology, the author, as a teacher-student, probed personal experiences ethnographically, in completing-transforming a digital story composition as a creative writing assignment. The self-study research methodology offers a unique dual perspective to inquire into students’ learning, as well as the educator's teaching practice. Using the S-STTEP (Self Study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practices) framework, the author found that each epistemic commitment led to pedagogical consequences and 'confound-ances'. 'Confound-ances' are resultant intended/unintended confounding affordances. From the student's perspective, it was found that a multimodal digital story using MTVs involved making semiotic commitments that resulted in modal challenges that conflicted with the storyteller's covenant. A MTV's modal conventions and iconographic language do not fall neatly into storytelling traditions. This conflict could be a rich source of creativity for students. From the educator's perspective, assessing multimodal digital stories were further complicated by the MTV's modal affordances. As MTVs utilised different production techniques, themes and genres, assessment became even more challenging as these needed consideration too. On the other hand, educators could also leverage the MTV's rich cultural capital, derived from popular cultural genres, to inspire multimodal writing assignments. The study concluded that using MTVs can provide new pedagogical possibilities for productive disruptions to develop multi-literacies such as visual grammar and audio resonance.