Comic Creation

Comics are appreciated by both adults and children. The few amount of words included is an excellent way for students to practice succinct writing. Additionally, a comic can be a motivating way to practice the important skill of summarizing, demonstrating understanding, and applying what has been learned. 


Two web 2.0 comic making tools that I have used are Pixton and Toondoo

                                                                          
                                                                  Pixton
  
Pixton is a free website for creating comics.  It has a good variety of backgrounds, objects, and characters to choose from.  If you can't find what you want, you can create your own.  One special feature is the ability to manipulate the bodies of the characters into different positions.  Pixton offers an educator's site where you can sign up your students under one account.  This account is free for 30 days, then you must pay for the service. You need to pay to download your cartoons, but you can embed, link, or take screen shots.  The free version comes with advertisements that are not suitable for students.

Screenshot of Pixton Website

These are two examples of Pixton cartoons I created for a course in my Master of Educational Technology Program at University of British Columbia. The course focused on the theory of technology.

Toondoo

An added bonus of Toondoo is that you can download, embed, email, or print the cartoons all for free. Toondoo offers a secure option called Toondoo Spaces ideal for schools. There is a 15 day free trial. While other people's creations are available on the free site, there does not seem to be any inappropriate advertising.

Screenshot of Toondoo Spaces Website

Toondoo is another easy-to-use cartoon authoring tool. I used this one with my grade 3 students and they were quick to figure out how to use it. I chose to give each student an account of their own. We used this tool because the activity was for Bible class and Toondoo offers characters in ancient Bible type clothing. In this activity, students were to summarize the story of Abram and Lot and then create a second cartoon depicting a positive choice they would make in a modern-day situation. The students were excited to create cartoons on the computer and many of them chose to continue to use this tool on their own at home.

By joypenner | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon