Background: the presentation is part of a Ph. D project concluded in October 2014 with the overall aims to investigate and conceptualize meaning-making in school in the frame of multimodal theory. It describes and analyzes meaning-making and design in learning with meaning-offerings from different modes and media from the students’ perspective.  Research question: What similarities and differences can be made visible in meaning-making from different modes and media when using analytical tools inspired by a multimodal theoretical framework? 

Theoretical framework: From a socio-cultural perspective, multimodal theory formation is used to find suitable tools and concepts for developing teaching and learning. Meaning-making is seen as multimodal, non-hierarchical and ecological drawing on Kress and van Leeuwen (2001), Kress (2010), Jewitt (ed. 2014), McLuhan (1999). Analytical tools: the Learning Design Sequence developed by Selander (2008), the wheel of multimodality inspired by the New London Group (2000), and the pedagogy of multiliteracies developed by Kalantzis and Cope (2012). 

Methodology: The study is a design study combined with an ethnographic inspired approach. In cooperation with the teacher the groups, tasks, instructions and timings were set in order to get data that will show meaning-making through different modes and media. In order to widen the base for explanation data was collected and documented through observations and audio and video recordings. Recordings were transcribed both verbally and multimodally and analyzed using the analytical tools mentioned above. 

Data: Audio and video recordings from lessons over three days in in an upper secondary school in a class taking social sciences and media courses. 

Results: The study shows that it is possible to use multimodal theory formation in order to describe and analyze the students’ meaning-making. Both similarities and differences are made visible. When discussions are described as multiliteracies processes and are looked upon as a learning sequence it is obvious that lack of clarity and lack of guidance are obstacles for learning. The tools make it possible to explain and to systemize the data which can be interpreted in a multimodal frame. The multimodal data collection gives a wide understanding of what is going on during the discussions.