Using Sequential Art to Communicate Engineering Course Content
Additional Funding Sources
The project described was supported by the Dr. Krishna Pakala Research Startup Fund.
Abstract
Course catalogs are notoriously hard to navigate, condensed, and confusing. In engineering especially, students rarely know what exactly a class entails until after they have enrolled and receive a syllabus. This can lead to students being discouraged by the courses they must take or drive away those that would like to pursue engineering but don't understand it. To combat this, we propose several full-page comics to illustrate the importance and content of selected engineering courses, written and drawn by a mechanical engineering student with knowledge of the classes that make up the base of the degree. The goal of these proposed comics is to demonstrate the basics of several courses while still being accessible to those who have not had previous experience. Comics have been used in classrooms to communicate complex ideas and are proven to increase understanding and connect to students better than text alone. They also can be a tool to promote diversity and show minority students that engineers can look like them.
Using Sequential Art to Communicate Engineering Course Content
Course catalogs are notoriously hard to navigate, condensed, and confusing. In engineering especially, students rarely know what exactly a class entails until after they have enrolled and receive a syllabus. This can lead to students being discouraged by the courses they must take or drive away those that would like to pursue engineering but don't understand it. To combat this, we propose several full-page comics to illustrate the importance and content of selected engineering courses, written and drawn by a mechanical engineering student with knowledge of the classes that make up the base of the degree. The goal of these proposed comics is to demonstrate the basics of several courses while still being accessible to those who have not had previous experience. Comics have been used in classrooms to communicate complex ideas and are proven to increase understanding and connect to students better than text alone. They also can be a tool to promote diversity and show minority students that engineers can look like them.