Multimodal approach, I believe, negates the Learning Style theory which stresses on a certain mode for certain learners. Multimodal learning approach says it a good complementing combination of all available media which helps deepen learning. Now it seems that Multimodal learners would be more flexible in their learning as compared to learners who somehow happen to be unimodal learners. Being a unimodal seems to be quite unnatural. Human beings are naturally multimodal: during our interactions, we perceive facial expressions, hear vocals, notice gestures and color changes to make minute to minute decisions and choices. (Kalanithi’s and Cope, 2012).

Synesthesia, a new term for me indeed, is when “one or more senses complement the other i.e., hearing is simultaneously perceived as if by one or more additional senses such as sight, or joining objects such as letters, shapes, numbers or people's names with a sensory perception such as smell, color or flavor (https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/syne.html). ..

Text, image and sound

“functionally depend on each other. They form a grammatical and structural unity: the comment that makes no sense without the image; the caption that points to criterial features in the image; the textual metadata that makes an image discoverable and links the preceding image to the next. Kalanithi’s & Cope (2015).

Implications for Schools:

With the rapid developments in digital technologies, there are now so many opportunities available to educators that each lesson can have so many entry points. For example, a teachers can help learners to watch a video, read a blog, start creating a Wiki page, use podcasts, engage in learning dialogue over VOIP etc. in the same way there is a unending list of ways learners can present their meaning i.e. wiki, video, podcast, webpage, etc. Giving such choices can be a bit challenging for teachers who are not technology savvy, but for an educator who is willing to adapt to pedagogies of new Learning, it’s nothing less than a heaven of epistemic resources.

Image source: https://primaryblog.wordpress.com/2012/12/17/new-literacies-and-their-affordances/modes-of-multimodal-meaning/

For instance, the above image uses color and shape modalities to help in meaning making. It’s clear to see a cloud as the primary idea and oval as linked keywords or explanations. In the same way the color coding also helps to interpret and image and test to make meaning. Furthermore, these choices of shapes and colors complement each other.

References

Kalanithi’s, M. and Cope, B. (2012) Literacies, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press

Kalanithi’s, M., & Cope, B. (2015). Learning and new media. In D. Scott and E. Hargreaves (Eds.), The sage handbook of learning (pp. 373-387). Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.

URLs

https://primaryblog.wordpress.com/2012/12/17/new-literacies-and-their-affordances/modes-of-multimodal-meaning/ [Accessed Sep 01, 2012]

https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/syne.html [Accessed: Sep 02, 2012]. ..