Realizing Meaningful Interactions Online Through OER Cartoons and Prompts

1. ? Realizing Meaningful Interactions Online Through OER Cartoons and Prompts ! :) LOL Terry Pollard Assistant Professor Director of Instructional Development and Distance Learning University of Mississippi Medical Center Jackson, MS

2. Presentation Objectives • We aim to: • recognize the rise in contemporary culture of comics--through medical narratives published online, traditional graphic novels, or the webcomic. • recognize the careful attention needed to craft the discussion prompt • parse meaning from student responses to webcomics--as a means to better understand student deficiencies and idiosyncrasies

3. Face to Face TEACHER Online MARKET RESEARCH ILLUSTRATOR STORYTELLER CONSULTANT / TRAINER SPEAKER WRITER RESEARCHER COMPUTER GEEK BLACKBOARD SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR

5. Child Tween Juvenile Adult

6. Graphic novels are the most frequently requested material in our Ivy League request system. “ ” Karen Green, librarian for ancient and medieval history and graphic novel selector at Columbia University. Source: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/libraries/article/57093-how-graphic-novels-became-the-hottest-section-in-the-library.html

10. Parents/Siblings Financial Aid Course Load Work/Class Balance STUDENTS Graduation Relationships $$$ Major/Minor Study Habits

11. Communication Computers and Technology MLA Online Learning ENTERING FRESHMAN (taking Comp I) Writing Habits Essay Organization Attending College

13. As a healthcare professional the realization of this comic is spot on. Many are obtaining degrees only to graduate and not be able to find a job. My initial reaction to the cartoon was that she may be on to something there. Because if we all had good karma there would not be an unemployment rate.

15. Student initiative lacking STUDENT RESPONSES Astute Teacher-student communication

16. Student confidence lacking Astute In the second panel the student appears to realize the need for coming up with some ideas, but at the last minute he/she makes the decision that a two-word response is concise, dramatic, and revelatory enough. The student gave up.  To me, the instructions were clear enough. I think that the student writes a two-word "essay" because she is not inspired to write about anything. Teacher-student communication The teacher didn't give any details such as the topic, font or anything so I probably would of wrote I'm confused for my essay. There wasn't [sic] enough details like how long or how many pages the essay should be, should the student use MLA or APA, should it be informing or entertaining.

17. Student confidence lacking Where do ideas come from? As writers, what process can we follow throughout the week to improve the writing process? I think that the student writes a two-word "essay" because she is not inspired to write about anything.

18. Teacher-student communication The teacher didn't give any details such as the topic, font or anything so I probably would of wrote I'm confused for my essay. Do you tend to point out errors to the professor when you are confused about something? If not, why not?

19. REFLECTION ESSAYS Did not discuss cartoons Did discuss cartoons 7 12

20. they were all relatable things ... [they] were the things that the students only thought about saying or doing. I even like the comic he gave us every week because that was a thinking process for me too. It was a way to just stop focusing on one thing and think about many things at the same time. …the comics were amazingly drawn and taught us to not only read words, but to read images….They made us use our brains. …they had great significance not just for the class, but for everyday life. Another comic that struck close to me was about "unfriending" someone on a social internet site. I thought about that comic hard before I wrote something that week. I analyzed all the times that I have 'unfriended' someone on Facebook, Twitter, and even MySpace. I learned from this that nothing is going to come out of unfriending them and that it doesn't matter. Through that comic I did actually delete my Facebook, because when it comes down to it, it just causes problems in general. …comics were very interesting. Throughout the course I evaluated comics and different little articles. I actually loved this class believe it or not.

21. 0 Typical Online Class-- Top Down This Type of Online Class-- Bottom Up Teacher Teacher 0 270 Students Students

22. Icebreakers (both discussion-based and web-conference based Extemporaneous Writing REFLECTION Reflective Writing Journaling

23. Prompt Suggestions • What was your first reaction to the comic? • When do you laugh? • At whom did you laugh? • Does the comic strike you as true? • Are you unsympathetic toward any of the characters? What might that suggest about you? • On what device does the comic depend? irony? satire? suspended disbelief? fantasy? simile or metaphor? • Does something meaningful happen between the “gutters” or between two comics?

25. To Return to My Childhood...

27. My Goals for Online U • To make the comic available to anyone in the world for use in their online class • To continue developing storylines that are pertinent to student and faculty experiences • To present and share the ideas of the collective online community to anyone eager to improve student-teacher dialogue

29. Course Begins! comic emailed comic emailed comic emailed comic emailed comic emailed comic emailed comic emailed comic emailed comic emailed comic emailed comic emailed comic emailed comic emailed

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31. Activity Subscribe Online | onlineucomic.com I am available for webconference training with your faculty Get in touch! Terry Pollard tpollard@umc.edu 601-815-8308

37. Activity • Comics Handout - Complete the Caption Subscribe Online | onlineucomic.com I am available for webconference training with your faculty Get in touch! Terry Pollard tpollard@umc.edu 601-815-8308