That’ll Toondoo Nicely

I am a big fan of Comic Life. I often use a simple 3 panel Garfield comic creator to get the students to explain basic concepts, but today the site was blocked?!?! So, I dipped into my Delicious links and revisited Toondoo. What a difference a year makes. Back in 2008, Toondoo was good tool. Now its a fantastic, simple and versatile educational tool. The students rarely enjoy Unit 1 as much as they did today and I recommend you try you students out with a similar task, it certainly does not have to be ICT based. Professionally and perhaps more interestingly to me the teacher, the task also clearly identified the ‘creative thinkers’ in the group from those that required hand holding.

Here’s how a typical infotoon sessions goes. I send the students an email outlining the key message(S) that need to be communicated as a safety net to avoid having to repeat instructions but typically verbally introduce the task. The only proscription is that students use a 3 panel design and the ‘communication / information.’ I find a 3 panel design works best with students posing / outlining the question, providing solutions and the advice on future work or conclusions. It is a model I have used a few times and it rarely falters.

You have been asked to create a series of info docs / comics  to ensure that staff at Downloadable Tunes fulfil office procedures. Rather than be a nagging boss all the time, you thought a fun way to encourage staff would be to use a 3 panel comic strip. Create three infotoons on the following three topics

1. The importance of using the subject line in staff emails. (AO1.2)
2. The importance of branding the company, using the correct text font, logo and colours in all business documents. (AO1.4)
3. The importance of file management. (AO1.1)

Good luck.

I might show them an example, (in this case I didn’t have one) but then its over to them. Bam! Straight into students working I stand back and watch the students tinker and investigate the webware. The results were very good and with Toondoo being more versatile, with more characters, backgrounds, than Garfield, the students work was more distinctive. In a lesson you can expect 1 or 2 strips but its great supportive evidence to demonstrate students understanding.