As for multi-modality, it was a bit lacking in our actual use. In fact, it was completely absent beyond using the calculator on my phone to do a few math problems (before we switched back to English for the remainder of the time). Infusing multi-modality into test preparation is a bit more difficult than it sounds in my head. By nature, tests are not full of multi-modalities. It is a student and a piece of paper and a pencil. So, studying for something that doesn't have multi-modalities can be hard using them because they don't require them to exist. If I were to use multi-modal concepts while preparing for a test, I would use smart boards and non-traditional texts. However, I do find the use of traditional test preparation to still a more needed space in the classroom.
Because a lot of test studying in the classroom is not done on a one-on-one basis, the use of a SmartBoard could help keep things interactive and utilizing students to their full potential. Students could use it to answer questions or to visualize something in a text or keep track of things they know about a piece while they're reading. It would be like simulating the test and having the SmartBoard act as the scrap paper that everyone could see and collaborate on. It also helps hold students' attention because of it being technology oriented.
To pair with the technology of a SmartBoard, using non-traditional texts like graphic novels, manga, or a film can help bring a new thought process to the students and engage them in a way books don't. As long as the questions asked still aid in the test preparation, it will be a positive influence because of the way it keeps their interest and gets student out of the monotony of just reading test questions and answering. Bringing forth the same type of questions with different types of texts will also help them realize these same questions can be applied beyond just a book, so they may find the information more worthwhile.
However useful both of these may be, though, I still believe they are less worthwhile than using traditional test preparation. Just a simple google search of OGT Test Preparation Materials gives you a plethora of sites to use. The top link is even test materials released by the ODE. It comes from the root of standardization: you have to teach to the test. As much as we all wish knowledge was amorphous and that personal responsibility is enough, we need to make sure students are on some sort of track to a normal level of intellect. ANd because of this, we have to teach particular things in a particular way. And to go outside of that risks failing the only thing that matters: the test. Students aren't humans in this game; they're a test score. Welcome to standardization -- get used to it.
As for test preparation, tests, and the growing meaning of "literacy," I think it's more of a rebranding than an expanding definition. Built into new technologies are old. It's a pyramid. Without language (which is part of the "old" regime of literacy), computers don't matter beyond pictures. So, to have that second level of "new" literacy ("computing" etc.), you have to have the prior. The second level is dependent on the first. And, you can learn the first using the second. They are intertwined. But, I also don't see these new multi-modalities entering standardized testing anytime soon. Students aren't going to be tested on their knowledge of video games or ability to operate microsoft office by the government any time soon, if ever. And teachers are already so pressured to meet the current standards, they dont' have time to branch into the new literacies as much as they could because they need to make sure their students pass the current ones. It's really a never ending cycle.
I don't see multi-modal literacies merging into test preparation very easily or very commonly soon. Because it isn't tested, it isn't taught. There's no time for it. Students need to know what type of questions are coming at them and how to figure out the answer. Not how to use a SmartBoard or analyze a film in a similar way you would a book. We don't allow for this creativity to flow in the classroom when it comes to testing. The film won't help as much as a day spent doing traditional test prep, and teachers are aware of that. It may be boring, but I think students know that, too. While working with my student, even he was aware of it. He was focused and knew that this was going to help him pass, and that's why he was there. He didn't want to do anything super crazy interesting. He wanted to learn to take the test correctly and pass.
In the future, I see it integrating more, and as a future teacher, I hope to be a part of that wave. I think more technology become subsidized by the government and plateau's a bit for them to control and keep in check, it will be implemented and monitored in schools more. It will start to become a necessity for life (more than it is now) and forced into schools and literacy. However, I still remain skeptical as to how it will be used for/during test and test preparation and can only work towards finding a way to make it work in the future.
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