Anime!

Manga, blogs and education all at once. It doesn't get any better.

I also had my second year undergrad writing class doing online discussions about using popular culture texts in the classroom context and I have to say, I read the best, most critical and well researched discussion I have ever seen ever today. One group were writing about manga comics (and then comics in general) and the discussion went way beyond the “its a way to bridge the gaps between home and school literacy” or “it will get the boys more involved” (which are both valid arguments but ones I was expecting). This discussion started with those points but then went on to discuss, in detail, the INTER-MODAL reading demands of comics!!! Not only that, but the actual DISCUSSION was a genuine discussion - to-ing and fro-ing of ideas, adding onto each other’s points, etc etc. I was so impressed I gave it *drum roll* 100%!!!! And…… guess what mode their discussion used? No, not that awful WebCT (I truly hate that!), not blackboard, not any artificially-designed-for-educational-purposes software… no it was… A BLOG!! Yes, a blog!!! I am going to ask them for permission to link to it if they decide to keep it online and not delete it.