Projects

**I have updated all my comic resources. See this page to get started.

The Basics

Any number of simple projects are possible using the simple tools in Google Drawings or Google Slides. You can find speech bubbles and a thought bubble in the Shapes menu as shown.

Those tools, combined with pictures you uploaded from a device, make a fun way to combe real life images and creativity to communicate a message or show what was learned in a lesson. Here are some advantages of these comics over other presentation techniques.
  • Students find them fun and accessible.
  • It's easier to pose for the pictures than it is to act out the whole scene for a skit or video. No one has to memorize lines!
  • It's faster than recording and editing video. Students can collaborate with the Google tools and divide up the work.
  • It's very simple for the teacher to adjust the levels of difficulty or creativity by providing some or all of the images or script.

Sample Project

Here is a project I designed for our high school digital media class. Click the links to see samples.
  • I worked with two students to take pictures that would lend themselves to a humorous story. I put the pictures on this site for easy access in conference sessions.
  • The class had to combine at least six of those pictures with comic tools.
  • They turned those comic frames into a PDF ebook.
  • They uploaded the PDF to Flipsnack to make a virtual booklet.
  • Finally, they made a video slideshow of the images using WeVideo. (Here's another example, this time with people reading their lines from the comic. This was done using iMovie on an iPad, but you could do it with WeVideo as shown in Part 3 below. Note that the Google Tip shown in the comic is a little outdated now!)
Here are the full directions for the three parts of this project, including links to resources and tutorials.

Note that Flipsnack and WeVideo have made minor updates to their sites over the past year. You might notice differences between the site and the screen shots in the tutorials, but the process will be very similar.

Making the story:

Creating the ebook:
**Important note: The Flipsnack site that we use for the final part of this assignment creates a username and site folder based on the student's full name. We advise students to never put their full name on their published work, but this happens automatically when the students sign in with their Google Apps for Education accounts. 

We discovered it is possible to change the username (and therefore the folder where their work shows up) by going to the Profile page on the site and editing the profile. They can do this one time, so it is an essential step prior to publishing their first Flipsnack.


Making the video:

Other Possibilities

  • Students can draw the images on paper and take the photos or they can construct the characters using other tools in Google Drawings or Slides.
  • Set up scenes using action figures, other toys or clay.
  • Instead of providing complete pictures, just provide pictures of the characters. Have students combine them as needed for a rough, "cut & paste" look.
  • All comics from a class can be combined into a class book. You could even print a quality version using a service like Lulu. Sell it as a class fundraiser!
  • Use the comics for school contests. Share some pictures and take votes for the best ones. 
  • Similarly, use them for classroom creativity games.