Webcomics and Technology
So, why should teachers bother using comics on the internet when they could instead use print comics and political cartoons from the newspaper? The reality of most classrooms—particularly English classrooms—is that classes are focused primarily on “print literacy pedagogies” even though text elsewhere is largely being displaced by “screen-based text” (Walsh 126-7). By using webcomics, teachers are using a medium that is accessible, pertinent, and popular with teens.Students can also use technology to create their own webcomics and become “active participants in the construction of media culture” by using webcomic authoring tools and publishing their creations in a larger context (the internet) than perhaps creating a print comic might (their classroom walls, for example) (Carducci and Rhoads 6).
Bitstrips for Schools from Bitstrips on Vimeo.
Creating Webcomics
Think of the value of student-created webcomics this way: Would you have students only analyze papers, or would you have them write papers as well? (Domine 133). Using available media to create a webcomics is a way of creatively re-representing knowledge in a visual multi-modal design, and it helps reinforce the idea of "reading between the lines" (Walsh 126). Creating webcomics gives students agency and a voice to express a point of view that is important to them and can disrupt discourses "embedded in school texts and in their lived experience" (Walsh 134). One webcomic authoring tool that I liked out of the many available is bitstrips for schools. The site is geared toward upper elementary and middle school students, and offers a unique way to learn media and visual literacy skills.
Author: Jennifer Lundstrem
Author: Jennifer Lundstrem
