Carissa Gray Coaches Educators on Digital Rhetoric and Multimodal Learning

Digital Instructional Technology coach Carissa Gray guides instructors on using digital rhetoric in the classroom. Digital rhetoric combines your students’ digital and physical worlds for an engaging classroom experience.

This convergence of the physical and digital worlds, also known as phygital, integrates multimodal learning into the curriculum.

Learn how to analyze and adapt the best digital rhetoric and technologies for creating a classroom that enhances student engagement and communication.

What Is Digital Rhetoric?

Rhetoric is a form of persuasion through speaking or writing. Since the development of technology and digital media, the term ‘digital rhetoric’ has emerged.

The simple definition of digital rhetoric is a method of persuading, educating, and communicating using digital media. As a tool of persuasion, digital rhetoric involves choosing the best way to communicate your message to the audience.

The following examples of digital rhetoric interaction allow you to communicate with students inside and outside the classroom:

• Social media platforms for collaboration, such as Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, YouTube, Jamboard, and Wikipedia
• Multimodal communication using text, audio, images, and videos.
• Messaging on self-publication sites, such as WordPress, SoundCloud, Classroomscreen, and e-comments.
• Interactive video games for developing critical thinking through challenging scenarios.
• Mobile applications for collaboration and feedback
• Immersive virtual reality technologies offer movement and a hands-on approach for kinesthetic learners.

As an educator, you decide which digital rhetoric technologies suit the learning styles of your students.

How to Determine the Most Effective Digital Rhetoric for Your Students?

Most students fall into one of four learning styles referred to as VARK. When trying to engage students or persuade an audience, using digital media to apply all four styles creates the most compelling and persuasive rhetoric.

Analyzing the VARK learning model helps you determine the most effective digital rhetoric to reach your audience:

• Visual learners retain information from images, graphs, and other visual aids.
• Auditory learners prefer listening to podcasts, audiobooks, and listening aids.
• Reading and writing help some learners remember more information.
• Kinesthetic learners retain more information with a hands-on approach and movement.

VARK uses multimodal learning concepts to strengthen students’ understanding and retention.

Carissa Gray Coaches the Integration of Multimodal Learning with Digital Rhetoric

Multimodal learning involves teaching concepts by utilizing all the learning styles of your diverse students. Whether they prefer text, auditory, writing, visuals, or kinesthetic methods, mixing various digital rhetoric methods reaches all of them.

Multimodal learning increases students’ engagement and excitement. They don’t have to struggle with a learning style that’s ineffective for them. Did you know that 81 percent of college students in the U.S. increase their grades using digital learning technologies?

Educators trained in incorporating digital media and personalized e-learning into their classrooms help their students succeed. When you present these various forms of digital rhetoric, it ensures that you reinforce your curriculum for all your students.

Contact Carissa Gray at Instructional Technology Coaching for more information about services and training to revolutionize your college classroom using multimodal learning and digital rhetoric technologies.