Comics for learning have a long history of telling stories to teach concepts and processes. A one-page comic scene can describe a complex process, or a comic scenario with characters and dialogue can help explain more difficult situations by telling a story. Unfortunately, L&D professionals often discard the idea of using the comic medium in adult learning, seeing it as either an unacceptable medium or too costly both in time and budget. These misconceptions can lead you to bypass an effective medium for learning.
Recent evidence supported by research shows adults retained more information from a comic than from a text-only version of the same content, and they recalled the information at a higher percentage. In this session, you will explore and discuss the research into what makes for an effective learning comic, the difference between a printed vs. digital comic, and the effective uses of the emerging interactive graphic novel. Having evidence-based knowledge about comics will give you a better understanding of how to use comics in your organizational learning efforts, and give you the evidence you need to get others to buy in to this approach.
In this session, you will learn:
- About recent evidence and research on the effectiveness of comics for learning
- How comics are used in performance support initiatives
- About using the comic medium to mitigate complex and sensitive topics
- About the emergence of interactive graphic novels in the L&D industry
Audience:
Novice to intermediate designers and managers.