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 with long-term benefits in knowledge retention.
Recent evidence 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 discussion, we will explore the research into what makes for an effective learning comic, the differences and benefits 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 into this approach.
In this session, we will explore…
- Recent evidence and research on the effectiveness of comics for learning
- How comics are used in performance support initiatives
Using the comic medium to mitigate complex and sensitive topics - The emergence of interactive graphic novels in the L&D industry
About your speaker: Kevin Thorn
Kevin is an award-winning elearning designer & developer, consultant, and founder of NuggetHead Studioz, LLC., a boutique custom design and development studio specializing in learning experience design.
After retiring from the U.S. Army, the next 15 years Kevin pursued a career in Information Technology and Training & Development. In 2012, he left the corporate workforce to start NuggetHead Studioz. He works with clients worldwide in various industries, including government, military, healthcare, transportation, academia, retail, non-profit, and others solving business and learning problems in diverse creative experiences.
Kevin combines his skills while harnessing a bench of creative practitioners in instructional design, elearning development, illustration, graphic design, animation, video, voice actors, and serious comics to develop innovative solutions. Kevin is a well-known industry speaker and trainer on elearning development, design workflows and is a certified facilitator in LEGO® Serious Play® methodologies
Kevin holds a B.S. in Information Technology Management and an M.S. in Instructional Design and Technology from the University of Memphis. Currently enrolled in the Instructional and Curriculum Leadership EdD doctoral program researching the powerful benefits of digital storytelling through the comic medium. He can be found on Twitter as @LearnNuggets, on LinkedIn, or around learning and development communities teaching and facilitating workshops and writing articles and tutorials.
You can follow and connect with Kevin on Twitter and LinkedIn.
