BP14_2009113_Web 2.0 Tool_Comic Strip Creator
The Emergent Technologies in a Collaborative Culture (ETC) course requires researching and blogging about Web 2.0 tools but my motivation for locating excellent tools goes beyond the requirements of this course. My Action Research project draws upon Web 2.0 tools and the introduction of several of them to my students. Additionally, having extra tools in the teacher’s toolkit is a good thing. I have had a lot of fun researching, experimenting with and evaluating these tools.I have always been intrigued by comic books. Growing up, my older brothers had quite the collection of Superman, Batman and the Archies. I wanted to find some type of a comic strip layout tool I could introduce to my classes. I teach Video Graphics and I am looking for small interesting projects that include a writing component. A short comic strip about school life just might be something the students are interested in.
In researching the Web I found several different comic strip tools. Most were not free so that caused me to move in another direction. I did find one that I think meets the needs of this particular project. It is called Comic Strip Creator. It is available as a free download but works only with Windows. Since there is only one Mac computer in my entire school (a loaner from Apple), this will not be a problem. After downloading the program I could not get it to work. I sent the company an email and they responded the next day saying I needed to “turn off” any anti virus software installed on the computer. It installed like a dream after I did this.Comic Strip Creator is great. I laid out this comic strip in about 3 minutes. In addition to downloading the program, there is also a download for clip art and backgrounds. I used both of them in this example. And finally, a word to the wise… be careful when searching for the site. The correct url is listed below. Changing the .org to .com may “strip” you of all rights as a teacher!
http://www.comicstripcreator.org/
Chuck, this is a great alternative to Comic Life! I like the fact that it is Windows compatible, as that has been one of my concerns with the information and applications that we have been learning in this program, since we are Mac based. My middle schoolers, particularly boys, are soooo into drawing and cartoons! This is a great way to not only get them to create products that are useful for assessment of learning but that it is so interesting to them that they don't feel like they are doing work, but playing on line! The students will also get a chance to enhance their technological skills in the process. Thanks for the share! I am sure that there is a way for my students to connect this with another tool such as Slide.com or Animoto to come up with a wonderful final project of some sort.
Hey Dedra,
ReplyDeleteThis seems like a really cool Web 2.0 tool. I can't wait to try it with my second graders. I have some that find reading a little taxing. I think that changing the media from books to comics on their reading level could help encourage them in their reading and their attitude towads it. Thanks so much for sharing!