A Multimodal Framework for Computer Mediated Learning: The Reshaping of Curriculum Knowledge and Learning

game mode there is no boundary between ‘game construction’ (programming) and
‘game space’ in Toontalk.

This first part of the chapter has focused on the multimodal resources made available
in Toontalk and the potential of these resources to shape the entity rule and the
subjectivity of the player. In the second part of this chapter I explore how two
students take up and make use of these multimodal resources in the construction of a
game and rules.

Part 2: Designing and Making a Game in Toontalk

When a learner sits alone in front of a computer and engages with the resources on
screen there is more going on than the interaction of that individual with the screen.
The activity of the learner is the complex outcome of the interaction of the learner
with other people, tools, and the cultural and institutional rules and norms of the
community that they are situated within (Russell, 2002). With this complex web of
activity in mind, learning can be thought of as the outcome of interactions with others
mediated by tools in culture. The computer is one such tool, and the effect of tool
mediation is one way to understand the complexity of the relationship between the
learner the screen, and the content of ‘what is to be learnt’ in the move from page to
screen. Understanding the impact of the computer as a ‘mediating tool’ is central to
understanding computer mediated learning (Saijo, 1999).

This chapter focuses on how the multimodal resources of Toontalk re-organise or re-
mediate the ways in which students learn (produce knowledge). More specifically, it
explores how two students’ conception of ‘bounce’ develops as an emergent
mathematical concept through engaging with these resources. I suggest that the
students understanding of ‘bounce’ is shaped (mediated) by the multimodal semiotic
resources of Toontalk, as well as the everyday knowledge and experiences that they
bring to their interaction.

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