Pixton

Create comics quickly and easily with this free site! Choose starting scenes, add new frames, change characters and add text. At this site, students can create, share, and "remix" comics. The "remix" link allows students to add their own twist to ready-made comics. Students can read comics created by others and also make comments on them. Other highlights of the site include a featured author and blog. The free version of Pixton is open to the public. There is also a fee-based version for schools (with teacher and student registration levels and safety tools) with a 30-day free trial period available. Be aware: the Pixton for Schools (if continued after 30-days) will cost $1 per student.

Pros:

-Colorful, expressive, creative

-People oriented

-Wide emotional range; preset expressions

-Wide range of increasingly realistic characters which can be easily modified

-Props are numerous and keep increasing

-Can use templates or start from scratch

-Can remix comics to create new ones

-Can easily create series

Pedagogical applications:

Pixton allows students to apply content knowledge and generate new forms of analysis. Students can imagine new scenarios for historical characters, recreate past events visually, and interpret primary sources through a comic strip. It helps foster creative thinking in the classroom through the ability to create original characters, or to develop unique forms of historical analysis.

Foreign language classes - create stories in the English language and then have it translated to the foreign language by other students in the classroom and vice versa. Language Arts classes - use comics to write summaries of current events, respond to reading assignments, express problems, and create works of humor.