Anybody gone multi-modal?

Hi all,

After attending a presentation by Cindy Selfe at NCTE in Indianpolis, I've been toying with adding multiple modes to my comp. classes.

I made a first, and pretty weak, attempt to encourage my students to share information they had learned while working on a researched argumenative paper. They could use whatever format they wanted, including singing, dancing, and a variety of wiz-bang computer assisted modes. Half my class (very rural, mix of techinical expertise) developed powerpoint presentations, and several incorporated web connections in their ppt. presentations. Now, I did no direct instruction with these modes, and I'm pretty impressed with what they already knew in other formats for writing. They were sophisticated in their use of images, parrallel format for lists, all sorts of specific language /media use that I didn't help them with one bit.

Clearly, I'm not tapping into knowledge at least half my students bring with them to class. I'm encouraged by their enthusiasm, and I'm also keenly aware that the other half of the class may or may not have some of these same skills.

Anybody playing with similar ideas?