Cool Tool Review #4 Make Beliefs Comics

Hello hello! Back again with another Cool Tool Review. This week, we are talking about the online Flash based comic creator, Make Beliefs Comics. Right off the bat, I like that this web application is browser based, meaning that I don't need to download it or anything like that. Students can even access the application easily from home if they have a computer with internet! I see on the side of the webpage that the app is also available for download in the iTunes app store. I like the accessibility of the application for sure.

I open the webpage and see that it is very colorful and appears to be drag and drop friendly! Excellent! Drag and drop mechanics are easy to navigate for most of my students, so that is another plus. When I click the "getting started tab," I see the following.

After a little bit of playing around with the editor, I am able to make my own comic in about 5-10 minutes. Not bad! I felt comfortable learning the editor and using the tools available in the app to create something fun. 

When creating a comic, you can select either a 2, 3 or 4 cell comic layout. Then, you pick your background and character(s) for each cell. You can move them around within the cell and size them up or down to your content. Then, you can add in speech bubbles, objects and words to compliment the characters and tell a story. This is a simple little comic creator, and the options are definitely limited, but I don't mind that in this application. This application is concise and to the point. If you want your students to create a comic that tells a story or comments on something that you had been learning about during the week, this is an excellent tool for doing so quickly and efficiently. If you don't see a background that you like, you can always opt for a blank background and tell your story using mostly text. I like how easy to use and accessible this application is, and I like that the comics can be downloaded in JPG form. From there, students can easily share their comic creations via social media to show the world what they worked on in class. 

There are a few things that I wish you could do in this application. First of all, I wish there was an option for adding original content to the comic. I wish students had the option to create their own characters in order to tell a wider variety of stories using their own art. Next, I wish that the drag and drop menu was a little more intuitive. I ended up getting the hang of things, but it was a little awkward to get a hold of at first. Most students should be able to figure out how to navigate the application within a few minutes of practicing.