In this module, you will explore Comics. It is expected that as you complete this module, you will
be able to:
• Explain some of the unique characteristics of comics with respect to supporting education.
• Evaluate educational comics and make suggestions for improvement.
• Apply sound multimedia principles in your design and creation process.
• Create your own comic.
Your challenge is to create a 2-3 page comic (12-20 frames) to teach the reader about some idea/concept you have mastered. Ideally this comic would be relevant to people in your field of study and your peers in this course. This comic might be used as a hook in a class to support a discussion, or as an introduction to support an investigation, etc..
Notes:
Comics have arguably been around longer than writing (consider prehistoric art), visually focused comics have been used to convey information to people for millennia (e.g., hieroglyphics, marble friezes, Sistine chapel, etc.), and to present satire/political commentary through editorial cartoons for centuries. With the publishing of the first comic book (Superman in 1938) a new format (and hobby) was born. For more history of comics, visit: www.comic-art.com/history.htm
Almost as soon as comic books became common, teachers were looking for ways to incorporate them into their lessons – to capture their students’ imaginations and to engage them in their studies. Various researchers examined their use in classrooms and published studies on the potential educational value of comics, but some other educators were less enamored with comics.
A few relatively powerful voices in the 1950’s (e.g., “Comics are bad for children”, Wertham, 1954; “Comics impede reading comprehension, imagination, and cause eyestrain.” Rosencrans, fugitive) effectively shut down the use of comics in education at that time. It took decades before comics were again openly examined as potentially useful educational tools. For more info visit:
Use comics in education because:
• They have the potential to reduce cognitive load and increase communication efficiency
• They are motivating for students when they are: authentic, intelligent, and satisfying
• They support self-paced consumption. Because of the discrete frames, students can dwell on a frame as long as necessary to understand the ideas presented, and they can skip back and forth easily to check and re-check information that they are now ready to process.
• They use visuals to provide a rich context, while the text can be pared down to succinct, essential dialog and narration to connect the ideas being presented.
• They are flexible, in that they can be used to present scientific or factual information or fantasy. A short and simple comic might present a key concept in a novel way, while a very complex graphic novel might rival traditional novels.
• They support learners with disabilities (e.g., dyslexia, working memory limitations)
However, until 15 years ago, creating comics still required significant extra effort (paper and pencil), skill (drawing, inking) and neatness (unless you were really tidy the final product was EDCI337 Pelton
definitely marginal). With the advent of software such as Comic Life, creating comics for, and with, students became much easier and more accessible. Software like Comic Life allows users to easily capture, modify, filter and use photographs (rather than drawing them – although you can certainly draw and capture images too), and then add beautifully clear and error free text (consistent font, spell checker). These tools have made it possible for children and adults to create meaningful comic artefacts quickly. With only a few hours of classroom prep (understand, plan and collect resources) followed by an hour or two using comic creation software students can generate a comic that they can print or share – and be proud to put on their fridge (even
middle school kids!). I’ve run successful comics workshops with students of ages ranging from
grade 3 through university.
Creating a comic, (like any other creative process) is a problem-solving process. You need to:
• Understand your problem – what are you trying to communicate, what are the key points
• Make a plan – how will you present it in a visually appealing and intellectually engaging way? What resources do you need to collect/capture/create (e.g., props, images, script/storyboard).
• Carry out the plan – with a program like Comic Life and a good plan you can put the comic
together in minutes or hours instead of days.
• Look back – did you accomplish what you set out to do? What new questions and ideas did you come across? What feedback did you receive? How might you improve your comic?
To complete this challenge, please open the ‘MML-Challenge-Project-Documentation-Blank’ as your starting document and complete each of the phases in order:
• Begin with Phase 1 & Phase 2 (and review ‘Educational-Multimedia-Principles’)
• Next, create your prototype comic (Phase 3), and create a new discussion thread in the Challenge A Comics forum where you will share a PDF of your comic (groups should set up just one thread).
• For phase 4 please use the Challenge forum to provide feedback to others and respond to the feedback you have received. (see the ‘Forum-Participation-Guide’ in ‘Resources A’)
• Finally complete Phase 5 and submit the completed MML-Challenge-ProjectDocumentation (due date is last day of module) (Change the filename of your document to include your netlink-IDs and the word Comic)
Finally, just because there are lots of fonts, styles, colors, backgrounds, etc., doesn’t mean you need to assault your reader with them. Make it easy to look at, use a good contrast, nice colors, consistent styles, etc.– above all, keep it simple.
