Jay Cross, author of the new book Informal Learning, has posted a wiki page of "graphic learning resources" - there is some fabulous stuff in there and a big thanks to Jay for collecting it.
Maybe we could come up with a unique tag for del.icio.us that we could tag additional resources with and then stream the RSS feed of that tag onto the page.....
I love this work. Read the problem set:
"A collection of essays is collated for readers with visualizing graphics. The graphics should both serve as a thematic and structural overview of each text, and pose the essay in question in relation to the other essays in the book. They should be both an abbreviation of the text and the key to decoding the complex issues under discussion."
This work really reminds me of some of the work of Nathan Shedroff and I wonder what our 'learning world' would look like if we let go of our design addiction to the the left-hand nav bar and instead embraced something like this or this.
So if you thought that a comic to teach lessons about being a first responder was out there - what will you possibly think about a Web-based comic to teach about copyright law? (be sure to try this - the page turning effects are very nice) (Web site)
This is covert instruction - it goes right past all the normal defenses that people have constructed that say - 'quick! tune out! the guy just said we're going to learn about copyright' Instead, it tricks your brain into thinking 'hey look a comic.' Later, when you've finished reading it, you've just manged to learn more about copyright law than you ever thought possible. How about the HIPAA comic? Ethics? Time reporting? How about just making some of the mandatory training that everyone in the corporate world has to sit through suck just a little bit less?
Understanding PowerPoint: Q&A with Scott McCloud
By Cliff Atkinson
Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work: Unlimited Edition
Comic Strip Artist's Kit (Redux)
Cute little comics from the Department of Psychopharmacology
Learning from the art of comics (Presentation Zen)
More on learning from the art of comics (Presentation Zen - rich with links)
Visual Thinking Assignment from Dave Gray
(Flash comic link)OK...let's all stop with the gaming talk for a minute and go learn how to draw comics. I'm just thinking that maybe instead of worrying about how to convert all those page-turners into games we can think about how we can keep them page turners but make them interesting. There are some similarities with games here (in fact there is a whole debate within the game theory/studies community around if games should be studied using literary theory). Comics are visual stories (games are typically visual and involve some element of story) - they both evoke emotion and identification from the viewer/player - both seek to immerse the viewer/player in their worlds.
Think about those elements; emotion, identification and immersion.
Worthy goals for our instructional content?
Helpful?
Able to cause content to form meaningful patter and move to long-term memory?
I would hope that there is a lot of north/south nodding going on and that we can then ask ourselves, what additional skills would we need to begin to integrate elements of storytelling into our designs?
