Understanding Multimodal Assessment Practices in Higher Education to Improve Equity

Multimodal assignments can improve student engagement, offer different paths for meaning-making or accessing information, and shift top-down power structures often inherent in traditional classrooms. However, despite the growing interest in including multimodal assignments in courses, many instructors still struggle with how to assess them and may continue to value print-based modes. This qualitative study, framed through social semiotics, aimed to explore why instructors in higher education include multimodal assignments and their corresponding assessments in their teaching and how they design and implement the assessments. Based on the analysis of focus group data, findings indicate that although there is a shared purpose of creating multimodal assignments and assessments to reinvent instructional practices to be more inclusive and equitable, instructors operate in the continuous process of rethinking and refining of what counts as “good” multimodal assessment. Furthermore, the implications for professional development programs emphasizing equity-centered pedagogies are discussed.