Access Type
Open Access Dissertation
Date of Award
January 2022
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Department
English
First Advisor
Adrienne Jankens
Abstract
This project discusses the creation and implementation of labor logs in multimodal curricula in two levels of writing courses and how these labor logs support students’ development of meta-awareness through reflection-in-action (Yancey, 1998). Labor logs create a space for students to focus on in the moment recognition, or monitoring, of what takes place as they work through a project (VanKooten, 2016; Trimble and Jankens, 2019). By turning the focus of labor-based assessment (Inoue, 2019) to multimodal projects, this project clarifies the work that labor logs and multimodal pedagogies do in first-year writing and technical communication courses: indicating for students a connection between all modes of composing and revealing to them the nature and the value of what they do while composing. Qualitative evidence from two IRB-approved studies is used to accomplish two main aims: to understand how labor logs indicate meta-awareness of composing practices and rhetorical sensitivity of the student, and finally, how labor logs can be used as a tool for various assessment practices. The analysis of students’ labor logs in technical communication and first-year writing courses shows students heightened awareness of individualistic methods of composing and demonstrating a process of evaluation that is clear to the student and the instructor. This project makes a significant contribution to scholarship on assessment practices in multimodal pedagogies and antiracist assessment ecologies.
Recommended Citation
Bristol, Suzette, "Labor Logs In A Multimodal Curriculum: Revealing Valuable Assessment Practices In Technical Communication And First-Year Writing Courses" (2022). Wayne State University Dissertations. 3590.
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/3590