POST #3

Garfield Comic Creator

http://www.garfield.com/fungames/comiccreator.html

This is an interactive webpage in which you can create your own Garfield comic strip.

It is easily used by following the basics steps on the left side of the webpage as shown below.

This can be used in a classroom setting in where students can make humorous comic strips. Panel-by-panel, students can make a comic by incorporating characters and dialog which help to make a story.

Positive points about this include the fact that is simple. Here animated characters are already pre-drawn so it becomes a matter of “dragging-and-dropping”. This comes with the added benefit of less time being consumed with the drawing side of things, and more time being focused on the text side of things. Additionally, those who do not have such great artistic skills can produce great works, and those with already good artistic skills can make something which appears professional. A minor issue with this could include the brevity of the comics, although this can be seen as a positive as instead it forces students to be concise.

Aside from this, flexibility with regards to content can occur, so for example students can create speech bubbles with dialog that contains various literary techniques such as rhyme, alliteration, assonance in amongst the many others. As such, poetry can be implemented here, in where one potential task could involve making Garfield’s speech bubbles only be allowed to contain rhyming sonnets. Furthermore if one would like, one could play around with conventions in where  the featured characters are their usual selves, or are completely different to the way they are characterized on the actual comic strip.

This can help me teach various things such as how to write a comic strip, and would be particularly relevant to any work where humor could be of relevance. It can also be be applied to group learning situations too as students could be made to work on a collaborative comic, or students in a class could share their comic ideas.

Consequently, this helps address Outcome 3 from the syllabus in where technology is utilized to help students learn. On top of this, students get an opportunity to make their own version of popular culture as they have the chance to make their favorite fat feline do things they want.