There are different apps that students can use to create comics. Comics are a great way for students to see the visual and the written aspect of literacy. They are considered controversial in schools as comics can be viewed as entertainment rather than literature based reading (Lo, Lyu, Chen et al., 2021). However, it can be argued that they provide students with a continued interest in reading, increase in reading comprehension and provide an element of creativity when creating a comic (Lo, Lyu, Chen et al., 2021). Two of the many digital comic apps are compared below. The two apps are Pixton and Canva.
Pixton is a digital resource that allows students to create graphic novels, storyboards or comic strips. You need to create an account to use this app. There is also a fee to use the app, which is charged on a monthly or yearly basis. It can be quite expensive, however the comics turn out really well. There are 100's of clip art to use for people, backgrounds, etc. The people can also be changed for different types of actions based on what you want from your comic strip. The speech bubbles can be changed depending on what type of expression you want to do. The students are able to create avatars for themselves and their classmates, which can be a fun and creative way to include students. It creates genuine comic strips that look like the real thing. After the students are done creating them, they can be downloaded, printed or shared on the internet.
Canva is a free or fee based depending on what templates you use for the comic. There are a lot of free templates so you would not necessarily pay to get an enhanced version. The premade templates are a great way for your students to start creating their own comic. There are different versions of the templates, however a lot include a blank comic strip, a page with different clip arts of people, images, faces, backgrounds, blank speech bubbles and more. After the students are done creating their comics, they can be downloaded or shared with their classmates. In addition to creating the comics online, you could also print out the comic templates and have the students create their own content with their own illustrations or cut and paste the illustrations from the template.
Overall, both websites are fun and easy to use for students. They both offer the opportunity to create comics. It really depends what you want students to be able to do with their comics and what you want out of the program.
Websites:
Canva- https://www.canva.com/search/templates?q=Comic
Pixton- https://www.pixton.com/
References:
Free templates | CANVA. (n.d.). Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.canva.com/templates/
Lo, P., Lyu, Y.-P., Chen, J. C., Lu, J.-L., & Stark, A. J. (2021). Measuring the educational value of comic books from the school librarians' perspective: A region-wide quantitative study in Taiwan. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000620983430
Pixton Lesson ideas. (n.d.). Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://ideas.pixton.com/?grade=3rd-grade
Brought to you by: Roseann@NU (OTECC)
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