One of the new affordances that e-learning affords is multimodal knowledge representations. In other words, this means that different modes of representing knowledge can all exist in the same space. Earlier this wasn’t the case. For example, the book could contain only text and image. Even the image was not possible before the invention of photolithography. However, multi-modal knowledge representation is not something that is alien to the concept of education. It is completely natural to how we, as humans, communicate. For instance, when people talk, they use gestures. While explaining a concept in a classroom, the teacher might write the main point on the blackboard, and draw a diagram to explain it better. The teacher might employ a role-playing scenario. All these are different modes of meaning (text, image, voice, play, etc.)

One of the affordances of e-learning is to make it possible to record this natural way of communicating - using different modes of communication - as authentic knowledge artefacts. Earlier, the student would learn in the classroom using such a multimodal approach. The teacher teaching using sound, text, image, and play. However, the examination would only test the ability of the student to use text, and maybe an image, in representing what he or she learnt. However, using the affordances provided by e-learning, this defect can be fixed. One of the possible assessment tools that employ a multimodal approach is the ‘video-essay.’

In its intent the video essay is no different from its print counterpart, which for thousands of years has been a means for writers to confront hard questions on the page^[1]. The essayist pushes toward some insight or some truth. However, the video essay does so using moving picture, voice, music, text, and so on. Since the meteoric rise of YouTube in popular use, thousands of channels have sprung up, onto which users upload various types of video essays. Here is an example of a video essay in the form of a vlog. This is an exceptional example, which masterfully uses video, text, images, music, and a compelling narrative to drive the essay. And it raises very important questions. Would such assignments push students to more critically engage with what they learn, and would that make them learn better?