Educomics http://www.educomics.org/ is a European Union Comenius education project under the LifeLong Learning Program. It has built sets of resource materials for teachers based on research and piloting in EU schools, so that teachers will have clear examples and guides to use digital comics in their teaching practice.

Digital comics in the classroom have been clearly seen to enhance learning to engage and motivate students. For teachers it allows them to use, a simple, technology in a practical and effective way.

Invitation
I would like to invite you to take part in our project by also using digital comics. You can use a simple to use software application called ComicLab which has been used by students and teachers for making digital comics in classrooms. You can find ComicLab at: http://webcomicbookcreator.com. The ComicLab application comes with a full instruction book and 30day fully functional, trial version.

You can find open access, resources and lesson plans about the educational use of comics on the project website, including Lesson Plans, Materials and Tools

I would be very grateful if you could tell me about your use with your students. You can write back with your own comments or use the template downloadable from the website http://www.educomics.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55

By trying comics you can add to our knowledge of how digital comics can be used as effective, motivational tools in the classroom and add to the resources we will make available to teachers.

If you would like further information please write to us.

Thank you

I have included my project mission statement here in the body (please note it has not yet been finalized)

This initiative’s goal is to instill the value of creative writing in today’s youth. Currently, art programs in our schools are being neglected as a result of education budget cuts. Paint and canvas can be expensive, but pen and paper can still be used to create art.

This program will ask students to use a set of characters, themes, and scenery to create their own, unique stories & poems. By supplying the major elements of a story we allow the students to explore what makes something interesting to read; the details…

What did it smell like?
Were the characters happy, sad, angry, etc?
What was the weather like?
How do you want to make the reader feel?

The 2006 Guggenheim Museum study on children’s literacy in relation to their exposure to art revealed that students in their Learning Through Art program performed better in six categories of literacy and critical thinking skills — including thorough description, hypothesizing and reasoning — than students who were not in the program.
We hope to emulate that

Standardized writing involve the most conventional parts of writing: introduction, body, and conclusion. Furthermore, the writing must be done in expository or narrative form. These regularities work well for a test, but they should not be the only writing skills taught to students.

Our program gives students a novel project that asks them to think outside the norm of ‘test writing’ and delve into something more creative & interactive.

We can give students something they may have never even thought was possible – an opportunity to become a published author. This type of reinforcement helps build confidence, gives incentive to stay in school and to keep learning & growing.

By giving a freedom of expression to students and tying it to a direct benefit we can instill a new idea of what education can mean for the leaders of tomorrow.