- What motivated you to explore the application you used?
Bitstrips.com has reappeared recently in social media as many people have been using it to post daily activities on Facebook. While it had been presented to me as a comic tool before, I never took the time to explore its capabilities. For our major project assignment, I desired to implement it into our presentation.
- What have you attempted to achieve in your project?
I used Bitstrips.com to create feedback snapshots on the use of flipped learning. I took real opinions shared by students and illustrated them in comic form. In this particular strip, I was able to present three different student perspectives on the video technology used by the teacher.
- What are the particular affordances (for knowledge mobilization, learning, etc) of the form of production you’ve selected in relation to previous forms of production we’ve considered in this course?
This tool allowed me to share an idea both visually and in print. The comic could be used to display one concept, multiple ideas, or a thought progression through its layout and panels option. Bitstrips’ interface was simple and easy to use. There were many options given for settings, characters, and props. Flexibility was also afforded in being able to create your own scenes, characters and speech bubbles. Once complete, projects can be easily shared with an online audience. Bitstrips can be embedded easily into blogs or sites and viewable on multiple devices. There is also the option to allow others to edit the comic, enabling remixes and collaboration to occur.
- What are the potential drawbacks?
In my short exposure with this tool, I did not encounter any drawbacks. At this time there are no options to animate or add audio to the comics. Some may consider this a disadvantage. However, I appreciated not having to record my voice for others to hear. Instead I was able to change the facial expressions of my characters and add text to convey feelings and ideas.
