Branching, interactive graphic stories –web comics– are a relative of “choose your own adventure” stories. Long a favorite of bored parents, these stories allow a child to make choices on behalf of a character, causing the story to follow a variety of branches that result in different outcomes. This form of interactive storytelling is best when served in images, sequentially presenting the images in the manner of a comic. A graphic story can be more informative than plain text, and [...]

The process of creating a published comic or graphic novel like those you buy at a bookstore typically begins with developing the story details and characters, then creating the visual presentation. This latter step is often a two part process: first creating a quick pencil sketch of word and pictures called a storyboard, and then using that storyboard to guide the creation of final, full color comic panels.

We are pleased to announce that Comic-BEE was selected as the Best Student Learning Aid in the 2nd Annual Innovations in Cybersecurity Education Awards from the National CyberWatch Center. The awards were announced on August 2, 2018 at the 2018 Community College Cyber Summit (3CS) at Mt. Hood Community College, in Gresham, Oregon.

Comic-BEE has received the Building Tomorrow’s Workforce Award from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology (DHS S&T) Directorate’s Funded Performer Awards. DHS S&T awards this honor to a funded project that best helps develop the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.

You’ve got your lesson plan done, maybe even written a few Real Life Scenarios (RLS) based on headlines you found. But that blank white page in Write Script … how do you get started?

Nearly a decade ago, the Secure Decisions team created branching, graphic comics by hand for a cybersecurity education research project. The resulting web comics were well received but fairly expensive to create: each one took about a man month of time, and required both a graphic artist and a computer programmer to put together. Why did we spend all that time creating web comics for cybersecurity education? Stories are how we pass all kinds of knowledge on to children. And [...]

Comics are being used in K12 classrooms everywhere to get reluctant readers to read and to engage students in a wide range of topics, from language arts to history, math and science. If this idea is new to you, you may want to check out ComicsInEducation.com, a terrific compendium of useful information which is dedicated to the idea that understanding and making meaning of visual narratives like comics is of particular importance in this digital age. Facebook has a Comic [...]

Term papers are part of the old college tradition: writing the paper enables students to both acquire a deeper understanding of course concepts and demonstrate that understanding to the instructor. These days, however, it is too easy to for students to plagiarize or buy a paper, and overworked faculty can spend hours grading a stack of papers. At Comic- BEE, we think that having each student create a branching comic is a better approach for today's learning environment. You can learn [...]

We previously talked about using comics in K12 classrooms. With so many students and teachers trying out elearning options now, consider going beyond just reading comics written by others and challenge your students with a creative assignment they can really get involved in: have them creating a branching comic! It is a great way for students to explore curriculum materials and concepts more deeply. The process of creating a scene with positive and/or negative choices encourages students to think critically [...]

Summer camp and after school clubs provide a great opportunity for kids to explore new and different ideas. The number of camps offering a cybersecurity program keeps growing, providing more students exposure to this exciting domain. But finding activities that don't require a complicated technical environment or a lot of preparation or training for the adults can be a significant challenge for cybersecurity camps, and clubs like the Girl Scouts. In addition, many camps and clubs are looking for shorter [...]

As part of National Cybersecurity Career Awareness Week (NCCAW), Comic-BEE has teamed up with Learning Blade ® to provide K12 teachers even more ways to introduce their students to cybersecurity concepts and careers. To help teachers and students observe NCCAW in 2020, Learning Blade is offering free access to three online STEM/CS career awareness Missions. Comic-BEE is offering free access to Comic-BEE for one month as well. This gives teachers an opportunity to engage students in thinking more critically and [...]