Displaying Text on a Computer: Do Comic Strips Have Advantages over Pages of Text?
You can learn math from Factoring with Mr. Yang in a comic-strip fashion. While I approached this course with cynicism, I found it surprising engaging (knowing that I am not their target audience).
In contrast, I started reading my first online book, The Twitter Book, available through Safari Books Online, a service the ACM provides members at no charge. As I read the book, I wondered how an online book is really any different than the electronic page-turner model of online education. Click, click, click.
Both the comic strip and the book are well-written. And both require you to click to get to the next screen. But the comic strip seemed to unfold in a way that the book did not. While reading the comic strip I never felt the compulsion to click through it like I did with the book and with many self-paced online courses. And I am more interested in expanding my knowledge of Twitter than refreshing my knowledge of factoring!
My conclusion: visual displays make an enormous difference. Do you agree?
Comments
Lisa, I've long argued for the underappreciated value of comics for communication. They carry narrative well, strip away unnecessary details while allowing emphasis of important points, allow meta-cognitive annotation (read: thought bubbles). I thought Google Chrome's intro comic (by Scott McCloud of 'understanding comics' fame) was a great example. I've used them in elearning as well.
Yes, they can be poorly done, but they're low bandwidth, tap into a lot of subconscious shortcuts, and transition across cultures well. They shine for examples. I agree.
Posted by: Clark Quinn | October 4, 2009 03:09 PM
An online book is no different than SOME (poorly designed) online education. It's text under glass. E-learning designed soundly can give you that same feeling of not wanting to just 'click through.' It has to be more than gaining knowledge (by reading)...it has to be applied which, I assume you were doing with Mr. Yang. So yes, I definitely agree.
Posted by: Janet Clarey | October 5, 2009 07:24 AM
Thanks so much for writing an article about my strip, Lisa! I agree with Clark. We're really just beginning to explore the comics medium's educational potential. There are a number of exciting education-related projects that have recently debuted. Francoise Mouly's Toon Books offer great titles for early readers. And my own publisher First Second has just come out with a textbook on making comics called Drawing Words and Writing Pictures. I've used this in my own classroom.
Posted by: Gene Yang | November 23, 2009 05:41 PM