Design and implementation of a student-generated virtual museum in a language curriculum to enhance collaborative multimodal meaning-making

This paper reports on a study, MUSE, which involved Secondary (Grade 7) students in designing and constructing a virtual museum. It presents a description and evaluation of the design and implementation of the technologically-mediated intervention within a language curriculum that emphasizes multimodal meaning-making and expression. Participants' gallery artifacts, interviews, reflections and classroom observations indicated signs of an emergent multimodal awareness with a growing sensitivity to semiotic affordances and constraints. Collaborative learning skills acquired and language learning motivational gains were evident. The investigation identified responsive, adaptive measures in overcoming unanticipated challenges arising from on-the-ground realities and contextual constraints. The study showed the viability, to a certain extent, of innovative technologically-enhanced interventions in reinforcing instructional pedagogy in classroom contexts. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.