Pedagogical Analysis of Comic Authoring Systems for Educational Digital Storytelling

Web 2.0 technologies and innovation of social and interactive authoring tools have garnered rapid transformation towards the practice of blended-learning approach. With learner-generated content projects, broad set of knowledge, media literacies, and soft skills are cultivated when learners actively produce their own educational materials; moving beyond traditional content consumers. Although there is an encouraging amount of study that focuses on learner-generated comics, pedagogical evaluation of comic authoring environments is still in its infancy. Therefore, this paper aims to outline the pedagogical aspects of several digital comic authoring systems based on Digital Storytelling pedagogical evaluation star. Six digital comic authoring tools are analyzed which are Bitstrips, Comic Life, Pixton, MakeBeliefsComix, Cartoon Maker, and Graphix Comic Builder. By classifying comic authoring tool’s pedagogical aspects using the provided criteria, this paper’s findings serve as a basis for educators to contemplate practical interactive digital storytelling application in facilitating learner-generated comic activity.