Last March in a RioNews
post, English Department Faculty Chair Kathleen Dunley, expressed her wish
to integrate comics and graphic novels into a new literature course at Rio
Salado College. As of this December,
that course is fully developed and available
for registration.
According to Dunley, an
avid comic arts scholar, ENH280:
Topics in American Literature is an exciting course to be involved in.
“The course content
provides students with a compelling introduction to visual storytelling as well
as an unconventional study of very traditional literary concepts,” Dunley said.
“We’re also breaking into some exciting new delivery methods with this class,
so it has really been a very fun project for me.”
By adding a social
layer to the online course, Dunley said she hopes to cultivate a persistent,
active community.
“I decided to integrate
the Ning platform for two reasons,” Dunley said. “First, I wanted students to be able to embed
multimedia tools and be creative in how they participate in class discussions.
Second, by using Ning, we can keep the course open. We’re hoping that students will stick around
and continue to participate in discussions even after they’ve finished the
class. It also allows me to invite guest
speakers into the virtual classroom where they can lecture, take questions, and
join the class discussion.”
Cartoonist Jessica Abel is one of the first guests on
the roster and will take questions through a broadcasted video conference.
“She’ll technically be in the
room with students and they will be able to ask questions. Students who aren’t
in the classroom will still be able to access the webcast from any location,
“Dunley said. “It’s freeing in a sense.
There are no walls or geographic limitations.”
Dunley’s connection to the comic
arts community allows her to include custom content from comicon presentations
and other public appearances.
“One of the assignments is to
read a few pieces by Seth (born Gregory Gallant). I interviewed him at the
Comic Arts Conference earlier this year,” Dunley said. “One of my friends taped
the interview so I’m including that video in the class.”
Dunley’s social network has also
helped her gain access to quite a bit of open source and creative commons
material for the class.
“I’m a contributing editor at The
Comics Grid, a non-profit project for comics scholars and serious enthusiasts
of comic art, “Dunley said. “I blogged about this class and have gotten a very
positive response.”
According to Comics and Digital
Humanities Researcher Ernesto Priego, founding member of the Comics Grid, ENH
280 serves as a model for how education should be.
“Dr. Dunley is increasing the
possibility for public engagement by developing an online community of learners
who are not restricted by geography,” Priego said. “Integrating accessible web tools for remote
collaboration offers much-needed communication channels for both course
development and research.”
Priego went on to explain why an
online social format is well suited to the niche study of comic arts.
“The genealogy of comic studies
is the result of the meeting of two worlds often thought apart, academia and
fandom. Fandom has always been quick and
efficient at harnessing web tools, but academia has been slower to adopt new
technology,” Priego said.
He added, “Comics are deeply
grounded in collective experience, exchange, sharing and communal spaces. Taking a comics studies course to the web is
innovative, yet logical. It means taking the discussion of comics to one of its
most natural current habitats.”
