Andrew Bourelle

Multimodality in the Technical Communication Classroom: Viewing Classical Rhetoric Through a 21st Century Lens

The authors provide a robust framework for using rhetorical foundations to teach multimodality in technical communication, describing a pedagogical approach wherein students consider the rhetorical canons—invention, arrangement, style, delivery, and memory—when developing texts beyond print. Students learn to assess their own work, reflecting on how each canon contributed to the rhetorical effectiveness of their multimodal projects. The authors argue for using the canons as a rhetorical foundation for helping students understand technical communication in the digital age.

Not Just Novels: The Pedagogical Possibilities of the Graphic Narrative

Bourelle uses the case study of his advanced composition course to highlight the use and advantages of short graphic narratives in enhancing students’ reading, critical thinking, and writing. As Bourelle outlines in this chapter, his students compose both written analytical papers and their own attempts at graphic narratives, exercises which enable students to appreciate and understand the comic book/sequential art/graphic novel genre broadly, as well as gain a greater understanding of multimodal literacy. Students also learn about the short form as well, coming to understand graphic narratives as a discrete literary art form, much like studying the short story is distinct from studying the novel. Finally, by exploring multiple examples of graphic narratives, students gain a broad understanding of the variety of storytelling and illustration techniques, much more so than if they were only looking at a handful of full-length graphic novels.

Assessing Multimodal Literacy in the Online Technical Communication Classroom

This article examines the teaching of a multimodal pedagogy in an online technical communication classroom. Based on the results of an e-portfolio assessment, the authors argue that multimodality can be taught successfully in the online environment if the instructor carefully plans and scaffolds each assignment. Specifically, they argue for an increased emphasis within the technical communication classroom on teaching the e-portfolio as a genre that not only exemplifies students’ multimodal literacies but also establishes their identities as technical communicators in the 21st century. This article provides a model for teaching multimodal composition in the online technical communication classroom and calls for more scholarship on teaching the e-portfolio in the digital environment.