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 class room sand 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: http://www.geneyang.com/comicsedu/history.htmlI like to 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 memorylimitations)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.
