In other nodes, we write about potential advantages and disadvantages of working within an AVT interface. We discuss the ways in which f2f sessions and e-tutorials might inform our methods in a webcam conversation, and we also theorize about the ways in which interfaces might distract (or not distract) their users. We do not cover, however, the ways in which interacting with the opaque elements of an AVT interface might enhance one’s technological literacy, the ways in which webcam use might encourage students and tutors to grow as multiliterate individuals.

John Trimbur (2000), in “Multiliteracies, Social Futures, and Writing Centers,” recalled the reforming of Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Writing Center into the “Center for Communication Across the Curriculum,” thereby signaling the center’s shift from "just" writing to all types of communication practices. Trimbur insisted that literacy is a multimodal activity, encompassing aspects of written, visual, and oral communication. In the context of this multimodal construction, Trimbur vied for redistributing means of communication, contending that striving toward multiliteracies will embrace underrepresented and marginalized groups.

With its integration of video, audio, still image, and text, AVT conferencing extends Trimbur’s (2000) call for multimodal communication, inevitably engaging student learners with more than "just" print literacy.