Abstract
In teaching multimodal communication to undergraduate biological engineering majors, we noticed that students often prioritized innovation over people when engaging in the technological design process. As a result, the instructors introduced service design methodology and provided instruction to put people more at the forefront of students’ minds and designs. Student teams produced 1-minute videos demonstrating how their designs worked to solve a problem for the benefit of people, and one team’s video is investigated here within a multimodal (inter)action analysis (MIA) framework. We sought to determine if MIA could help communication instructors see evidence that students integrated service design into their design process as well as whether students’ use of engineering languages enabled and empowered their participation as engineers. In analyzing the video, we claim that the video not only represents but also enacts an interaction between targeted users – who are real people – and students as newly formed engineers. Ultimately, we argue that MIA also helps teachers to see and to appreciate the actual interaction of real people and practicing engineers in the technological development process.
References
Atman, Cynthia J., Ozgur Eris, Janet McDonnell, Monica E. Cardella & Jim L. Borgford-Parnell. 2014. Engineering design education: Research, practice, and examples that link the two. In Aditya Johri & Barbara M. Olds (eds.), Cambridge handbook of engineering education research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781139013451.015Suche in Google Scholar
Bryant, Scott & Cara Wrigley. 2014. Driving toward user-centered engineering in automotive design. Design Management Journal 9(1). 74–84. https://doi.org/10.1111/dmj.12007.Suche in Google Scholar
Calde, Steve, Kim, Goodwin & Robert Reimann. 2002. SHS orcas: The first integrated information system for long-term healthcare facility management. In Case studies of the CHI2002|AIGA experience design FORUM, 2–16. New York, NY, USA: CHI ’02.10.1145/507752.507753Suche in Google Scholar
Definition in American English. 2024. Over-engineered. Collins English Dictionary. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/over-engineered 16 February.Suche in Google Scholar
Gibbons, Sarah. 2017. Service design 101. Nielsen Norman Group. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/service-design-101/.Suche in Google Scholar
Howe, Susannah & Jay Goldberg. 2019. Engineering capstone design education: Current practices, emerging trends, and successful strategies. In Design education today. Cham: Springer.10.1007/978-3-030-17134-6_6Suche in Google Scholar
Howe, Susannah, Laura Rosenbauer & Sophia Poulos. 2017. The 2015 capstone design survey results: Current practices and changes over time. International Journal of Engineering Education 33(5). 1393–1421.Suche in Google Scholar
Hutchison, Allison. 2019. Assessing the feasibility of online writing support for technical writing students. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech Dissertation. Available at: https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/90375.Suche in Google Scholar
Hutchison, Allison & Christoffer Abrahamsson. 2025. Advancing engineering students from capstone to career with service design methodology. In 53rd annual conference of the european society for engineering education. Tampere, Finland: European Society for Engineering Education.Suche in Google Scholar
Hutchison, Allison, Rick Evans & Neha Malepati. 2021. A preliminary review of communication instruction in an international undergraduate engineering context. Blended learning in engineering education : Challenging, enlightening – and lasting, 923–935. Berlin, Germany: European Society for Engineering Education.Suche in Google Scholar
Hutchison, Allison, Christina Sheley & Sunghwan Jung. 2024. The straight poop: How service design and teaching partnerships mitigate over-engineering and promote sustainability. Paper presented at Proceedings of the 52nd Annual Conference of SEFI. Lausanne, Switzerland.Suche in Google Scholar
Jewitt, Carey (ed.). 2009. The routledge handbook of multimodal analysis. vol. 1. London: Routledge.Suche in Google Scholar
Jewitt, Carey, Jeff Bezemer & Kay O’ Halloran. 2016. Introducing multimodality. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.10.4324/9781315638027Suche in Google Scholar
Jones, Rodney H. & Sigrid Norris. 2005. Discourse in action: Introducing mediated discourse analysis. Oxford: Taylor & Francis.10.4324/9780203018767-15Suche in Google Scholar
Jun, Paul, Michael Gibbs & Kathryn Gaffney. 2000. CH4 and N2O emissions from livestock manure. In Good practice guidance and uncertainty management in national greenhouse gas inventories. https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/gp/bgp/4_2_CH4_and_N2O_Livestock_Manure.pdf.Suche in Google Scholar
Krause, Rachel. 2018. Storyboards help visualize UX ideas. Nielsen Norman Group. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/storyboards-visualize-ideas/.Suche in Google Scholar
Kress, Gunther & Theo Van Leeuwen. 2001. Multimodal discourse. Bloomsbury Publishing. https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/multimodal-discourse-9780340608777/.Suche in Google Scholar
Lemke, Jay. 1998. Teaching all the languages of science: Words, symbols, images and actions. Paper presented at conference on science education. Barcelona: Conference on Science Education.Suche in Google Scholar
Lemke, Jay. 2009. Multimodal genres and transmedia traversals: Social semiotics and the political economy of the sign. Semiotica 2009(173). 283–297. https://doi.org/10.1515/SEMI.2009.012.Suche in Google Scholar
Marshall, Russell, Sharon Cook, Val Mitchell, S. Summerskill, V. Haines, M. Maguire, R. Sims, D. Gyi & K. Case. 2015. Design and evaluation: End users, user datasets and personas. Applied Ergonomics, Special Issue: Inclusive Design 46. 311–317. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2013.03.008.Suche in Google Scholar
Miska, Jacob W., Laura Mathews, Jessica Driscoll, S. Hoffenson, S. Crimmins, A. EsperaJr. & N. Pitterson. 2022. How do undergraduate engineering students conceptualize product design? An analysis of two third-year design courses. Journal of Engineering Education 111(3). 616–641. https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20468.Suche in Google Scholar
Nathans-Kelly, Traci & Christine G. Nicometo. 2014. Slide rules: Design, build, and archive presentations in the engineering and technical fields. Piscataway: John Wiley & Sons.10.1002/9781118796139Suche in Google Scholar
Norris, Sigrid. 2004. Analyzing multimodal interaction: A methodological framework. London: Routledge.10.4324/9780203379493Suche in Google Scholar
Norris, Sigrid. 2014. The impact of literacy-based schooling on learning a creative practice: Modal configurations, practices and discourses. Multimodal Communication 3(2). 181–195. https://doi.org/10.1515/mc-2014-0011.Suche in Google Scholar
Norris, Sigrid & Boonyalakha Makboon. 2015. Objects, frozen actions, and identity: A multimodal (inter)action analysis. Multimodal Communication 4(1). 43–59. https://doi.org/10.1515/mc-2015-0007.Suche in Google Scholar
Norris, Sigrid & Jesse Poono Pirini. 2016. Communicating knowledge, getting attention, and negotiating disagreement via videoconferencing technology: A multimodal analysis. Journal of Organizational Knowledge Communication 3(1). 1. https://doi.org/10.7146/jookc.v3i1.23876.Suche in Google Scholar
O’Toole, Michael. 2004. Opera ludentes: The Sydney opera house at work and play. In Multimodal discourse analysis: Systemic functional perspectives. Continuum: Kay O’Halloran.Suche in Google Scholar
Polaine, Andrew, Lavrans Løvlie & Ben Reason. 2013. Service design: From insight to implementation. Brooklyn: Rosenfeld Media.Suche in Google Scholar
Qattawi, Ala, Ala’aldin Alafaghani, Muhammad Ali Ablat & Md Shah Jaman. 2021. A multidisciplinary engineering capstone design course: A case study for design-based approach. International Journal of Mechanical Engineering Education 49(3). 223–241. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306419019882622.Suche in Google Scholar
Reave, Laura. 2004. Technical communication instruction in engineering schools: A survey of top-ranked US and Canadian programs. Journal of Business and Technical Communication 18(4). 452–490. https://doi.org/10.1177/1050651904267068.Suche in Google Scholar
Robertson, James. 2024. Employee personas and how to create them. Step Two. https://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/kmc_personas/.Suche in Google Scholar
Scollon, Ron & Suzie Wong Scollon. 2003. Discourses in place: Language in the material world. London: Routledge.10.4324/9780203422724Suche in Google Scholar
Wigham, Ciara R. & Müge Satar. 2024. Adapting and extending multimodal (inter)action analysis to investigate synchronous multimodal online language teaching. Multimodal Communication 13(3). 415–426. https://doi.org/10.1515/mc-2024-0048.Suche in Google Scholar
© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Use of inscribed objects in roleplay training sessions at a Japanese insurance company
- Visual and multimodal literacies in secondary education in Spain: voices from English language teachers
- The marketization of higher education in China: a comparative multimodal genre analysis between top-public and international universities
- Sustainability as an element of corporate identity: multimodal analysis of an Italian coffee company’s website
- Communicating political achievements: a semiotic analysis of political posters in the linguistic landscape of Tanzania
- From aspiring to authentic engineers: prioritizing real people and real problems in engineering through service design methodology
- Whoosh! visual depictions of direction, speed, and temporality: a corpus analysis of motion events in global comics
- Sharing experience or selling service?: a multimodal critical discourse analysis of self-proclaimed Hong Kong female PhD student identity in Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book)
- Professors’ perception of body language in the aftermath of the Covid-19 online teaching period
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Use of inscribed objects in roleplay training sessions at a Japanese insurance company
- Visual and multimodal literacies in secondary education in Spain: voices from English language teachers
- The marketization of higher education in China: a comparative multimodal genre analysis between top-public and international universities
- Sustainability as an element of corporate identity: multimodal analysis of an Italian coffee company’s website
- Communicating political achievements: a semiotic analysis of political posters in the linguistic landscape of Tanzania
- From aspiring to authentic engineers: prioritizing real people and real problems in engineering through service design methodology
- Whoosh! visual depictions of direction, speed, and temporality: a corpus analysis of motion events in global comics
- Sharing experience or selling service?: a multimodal critical discourse analysis of self-proclaimed Hong Kong female PhD student identity in Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book)
- Professors’ perception of body language in the aftermath of the Covid-19 online teaching period