A colloquium hosted May 5 by the Multiliteracies Project brought together adult, higher education, and secondary school educators to share research and resources, foster professional networking, and explore exceptional teaching strategies.

The Multiliteracies Project studies expanded forms of literacy with adolescents and adults, embracing cultural and linguistic plurality, technology, and multimodalities, says principal investigator Susan Holloway, an associate professor in the Faculty of Education.

The colloquium presentations focused on cultural and linguistic diversity in teaching, workplace learning and literacy, and multiliteracies theory.

“In turn, the presentations provided prompts for interactive conversations to connect research to practice in a wide variety of educational settings,” Dr. Holloway says.

“Just in terms of social media, there were over 660 visits on Twitter two days following the MLP colloquium, and much of the information shared was then retweeted by international professors in the field of multiliteracies.”

Acknowledging funding support from the Faculty of Education, the Office of Research & Innovation Services, and the Greater Essex County District School Board, she adds the event also celebrated the contributions participating educators have made to the study by sharing their insights. The modelling of many of their pedagogical practices in classrooms can be found on the project web platform.