Bitstrips Online Comic Generator Review

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"191","attributes":{"title":"blackhistorymonth","height":"166","width":"300","class":"media-image alignleft size-medium wp-image-1028 media-element file-media-large"}}]]Bitstrips is an online comic generator, which is free for publicly funded Ontario classrooms. Because all of the “art” is done by the program, the students can easily create really fantastic comic books. I was first introduced to this program by a student. In fact, he practically begged me to check it out. His previous teacher used it in their classroom and when he moved to my room mid-year, he felt lost without it. I set up my online classroom and walked the students through the tutorials. We created my avatar together (think of it as a digital self-portrait) and then made our first comic. After that, the students went to it with a furor! Within a few days, they were teaching me the nuances of the program. The biggest challenge for me was keeping on top of the amount of content the students generated for me. I was able to assign “tasks” through the online portal (“retell your favourite Greek myth,” “predict how the author will finish the story,” “what would our world be like with no simple machines?”) and the students finished the work and submitted it to me through the same portal. Ease of use: 3 Value/cost: 4 Application: 4 Final grade: level 3+ It will take some playing around to really get YOUR head around this program, but grade 3-8 students will take to it really quickly. It was a much loved activity in  my classroom.