What is it and how does it work?
Toondoo is a free comic creator that allows you to create unlimited comic strips, with multiple panel choices. In order to use toondoo, a username and password is required. Toondoo also gives you great choices for characters, props, and backgrounds. This tool uses an interface that is in the moderate range in terms of ease of use and navigation. Due to the fact that this tool requires a login and offers so many choices and variety, this is not a tool I would use with K-2 students. Technically, it could be used with students in grades 3-12, but I think this tool is most appropriate for late elementary to upper school students(grades 5-12).
· You can have a free account or a paid account.
· With free accounts, you have access to all the tools, but by default, all comic strips are set to public are re-doable. What this means is that anyone can access the strips and edit them. You can, however, make strips private or you can allow only certain people to see your strips via e-mail. Students will have to be shown how to do this when they save their strips.You can print out your strips and you can also send them to anyone via a link (generated by toondoo) that is sent to recipient’s e-mails.
Implications for classroom use:
Regardless of which version of toodoo you use, it is a fabulous tool that you can use to create a blended learning or a project based classroom environment. Due to how many things you can do with toondoo, students will need to have some time to get familiar with the interface. After they have had some time to get familiar with the interface and how it works, then students can start creating comic strips/books. Some students may want to have their plans written out before they start creating their comics, while other students will want to jump right into creating without writing out their plans.( This is the type of student I am!) In either case, it might be helpful to have specific guidelines, checklists or rubrics available to your students to help them with the creating process. To see an example of this, click on the file below to see a guidelines and rubric worksheet that I used with my fifth grade students when they were told they would be creating educational comic books about cyber bullying.
You will have to complete a final project for this unit2.docx
Curious about what the end result looked like? ( You know you are!) Click on the link below to see one of my fifth grader's final project using toondoo:http://sp.rpcs.org/faculty/TorresW/samples/sophia%20and%20ammara.pdf
In addition to having students create their own comics, you as the teacher could use toondoo to create educational worksheets to help students understand different concepts. For example, you could create a comic then have the students complete questions about what they read. To see an example of this click on the link below:
http://cyberunit.weebly.com/uploads/5/0/4/4/5044384/saysomething_comic.pdf
You could also use toondoo to create an educational comic book for your students to explain a concept. The link below shows an example of this. I used toondoo to create an educational comic book, which I then distributed to my students who had to read it and do a book report on it for homework. Then we discussed the points made in the comic during the next few class sessions.
http://cyberunit.weebly.com/uploads/5/0/4/4/5044384/comic.pdf
These are just some examples of what you could to with toondoo. The possibilities are endless and since this tool is online, students can access it from school or home! I love snacks that have a lot to offer, are free, and provide new ways to help students express their thoughts, understanding and concerns! This one is definitely a keeper! Until our next dining session at the Café!