Seeking feedback on new Web 2.0 educational website
Hi everyone,
I'd like to invite you to try out our website, Pixton.com. The premise is, anyone can create comics without having to draw.
Pixton for Fun is our free, public website, and features all of the now-conventional mechanisms of Web 2.0. Members can rate one another's comics, comment on them, send messages, create an avatar, and more.
A unique feature of the site is automatic translation - subtitles appear on foreign-language comics. Or, comics you create can be read by people in other languages.
Another feature to note is remixing - you can make a copy of someone else's comic and then edit it in any way you like, leaving the original intact.
The comic editor is very powerful and intuitive. Check out our trailer to see the editor in action (in time-lapse). Sign up to Pixton for Fun to use the editor.
Just last week at the Innovative Learning Conference in San José we released a low-cost educational Web 2.0 application, Pixton for Schools. This takes all the goodness of Pixton for Fun and places it in a private, virtual classroom. Teachers create classrooms containing students, and lessons or assignments which students complete.
The Lesson Bank provides a repository, so that teachers and can share their lessons with all teachers using Pixton for Schools, around the world. The Lesson Bank can be browsed by subject area, level, geographic region, or tag.
You can read more about Pixton for Schools here. We have a free 30-day trial, and welcome feedback of any kind!
Incidentally, we met Derek E. Baird at ILC08, and he turned me on to Classroom 2.0. You can read his review of Pixton here.
// Update: October 29, 2008 //
We've leveled out the cost to be $1 USD per student per month, making Pixton for Schools equally accessible to classrooms large or small. The free trial, as well as terms of 2, 4, 8, or 12 months are still available.
best wishes,
Clive Goodinson
I'd like to invite you to try out our website, Pixton.com. The premise is, anyone can create comics without having to draw.
Pixton for Fun is our free, public website, and features all of the now-conventional mechanisms of Web 2.0. Members can rate one another's comics, comment on them, send messages, create an avatar, and more.
A unique feature of the site is automatic translation - subtitles appear on foreign-language comics. Or, comics you create can be read by people in other languages.
Another feature to note is remixing - you can make a copy of someone else's comic and then edit it in any way you like, leaving the original intact.
The comic editor is very powerful and intuitive. Check out our trailer to see the editor in action (in time-lapse). Sign up to Pixton for Fun to use the editor.
Just last week at the Innovative Learning Conference in San José we released a low-cost educational Web 2.0 application, Pixton for Schools. This takes all the goodness of Pixton for Fun and places it in a private, virtual classroom. Teachers create classrooms containing students, and lessons or assignments which students complete.
The Lesson Bank provides a repository, so that teachers and can share their lessons with all teachers using Pixton for Schools, around the world. The Lesson Bank can be browsed by subject area, level, geographic region, or tag.
You can read more about Pixton for Schools here. We have a free 30-day trial, and welcome feedback of any kind!
Incidentally, we met Derek E. Baird at ILC08, and he turned me on to Classroom 2.0. You can read his review of Pixton here.
// Update: October 29, 2008 //
We've leveled out the cost to be $1 USD per student per month, making Pixton for Schools equally accessible to classrooms large or small. The free trial, as well as terms of 2, 4, 8, or 12 months are still available.
best wishes,
Clive Goodinson
Tags: based, books, collaboration, collaborative, comic, comics, creative, learning, literacy, online, More…
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Steve O'Connor on
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Rather pricey. 50 seat Comic Life can be had for $299 and it's not a subscription for a year.
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Permalink Reply by Lauriene Tschang on
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Tried the Pixton For Fun. Editing your profile's picture is tough. It is not like Portrait Illustration Maker that makes it easy to change your hairdo, face shape, etc - like in Wii's Mii. Creating the comic itself is not so bad though.
The Pixton for School is pricey. I am looking for more of FREE subscriptions since our school has limited grant from government (we are a non-public school).
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Permalink Reply by Clive Goodinson on
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Thank you for your feedback! We'll take it into consideration.
Please note that Pixton, unlike Comic Life, is a Web 2.0 application and requires no software installation - it can be used from any computer connected to the internet, at school or at home, on Mac or PC.
For only cents a day per student, Pixton for Schools offers an unparalleled experience - learning with comics in a feature-rich, private, online environment. Pixton's comic editor features both time-saving presets as well as complete control over your characters and scenes. It opens a new world of creative and collaborative possibilities for both teachers and students!
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Hi Lauriene,
I've updated Pixton so that new members now don't have to start from scratch when creating their avatar. This way, you can easily select, say, a different hair style or eyewear, without having to first place your character in the scene.
I'd also like to point out our extensive online help, which can be accessed while using the comic editor, by pressing Help in the main menu. The great thing is, you can browse and search the help without leaving the page you're on.
If you're ever stuck, don't hesitate to email us at support@pixton.com, or phone toll-free 1-888-7-PIXTON.
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Permalink Reply by Kelley Irish on
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Hi Clive,
I checked out ypur site. You have done a great job in presenting the comic creator tool. The layout of the site is easy to use and follow. The information on the educational benefits is well written, and presented clearly. I like the idea of being able to set up student accounts without email addresses. There is a need for a more protected environment for the children to use when creating comics., and I can see your product targeted this area.
However, the service for education is a bit pricey, in todays educationala climate. There are so many free comic creators on line there is no way my school could pay the $565 dollar fee for 25 licenses and then have the licenses only cover a year of use. Right now I have a list of 10 comic creation tools my students are able to use on-line for free.
Congratulations on creating a very nice comic creator tool. I wish you luck in launch!
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Permalink Reply by Julie Baird on
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I LOVE Pixton. My students are using the the Fun version for free at the moment to illustrate a chapter in the novel they're reading. They are having a great time learning how to deal with new technology while producing a product that will help the class review the book. They LOVE Pixton also.
When I first looked at the school option, it was out of my price range because the first price I saw was for multiple users. However, looking at it again, I see that I could get a 1 user license for a year for only $40. That is not unreasonable. I spend a bit more to keep my Quia subscription active for a year. Many of the websites like this we teachers need to purchase with our own funds. :-( I think Pixton is worth it. We're almost done with our comics for this book. When we read another one in a few months, I'll give the school version a try.
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Our pricing structure is such that you pay less per user, the more users you have and the longer the term of your license. Multi-year licenses are also available, subject to negotiation and a separate agreement.
If you are able to get together with a number of other teachers and purchase a license together, you can considerably decrease your cost, e.g. from 6 cents per day/user with 30 users for 1 yr, to 3 cents per day/user with 300 users for 1 yr. The cost is further reduced with even more users.
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This pricing structure was also true with Quia (the more users you had, the less it cost per user). Unfortunately I couldn't get anyone else in my school to use Quia. I've shown Pixton to a few of my colleagues, but they don't see it as a learning tool for their subject areas. At least not yet.
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Permalink Reply by Ian Grove-Stephensen on
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Julie, this is off-topic but have you looked at Yacapaca as an alternative to Quia? Not only does it have a much wider range of assessment types (simple y/n right through to high-end ePortfolios), but it is also 100% free.
Clive, you may have to make a hard decision between thousands of paying members or hundreds of thousands of happy members of a free community. Surely, with comics there are great opportunities to go the ad-supported route? At Yacapaca, our customer adoption rate doubled when we went free and we are now up to nearly 1,000,000 members.
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Hi Ian, we do offer a free version of Pixton and welcome teachers and students to use it!
Pixton for Schools' paid membership allows us to keep it free of third-party advertising, and provide a learning environment where teachers and parents can feel confident that students are safe.
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Thanks, Ian. I've been to your site once before but at the time I wasn't looking for anything new or a replacement for Quia. I watched the video and saw components I liked. I've bookmarked it and will look at it more seriously when I have time.
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Clive Goodinson 17,
Pleae do not misunderstand I believe you have set up a very useful tool- However my total budget for 400 students in the computer lab is 800 dollars a year. I get two dollars a student-which is pretty typical in Michigan. The 800 dollars barely covers the ink and paper used in the lab-and replacing a projector bulb is $427.00. So far this school year out of my take home pay , I purchased 6 web cam's for clay animation projects, a digital camera, a media card reader, clay and materials for clayanimation project, balsa wood to go with my bridge building unit, 25 model kits to co-ordinate with my google sketch-up CAD unit-and it is only October.
Since you asked for feedback and since you have just launched the site I am only offering the above feedback for your consideration. Perhaps there are other districts that can pay for licensing on a yearly basis. My district fels that once they buy multiply licenses it should be good for as long as we use it.-expiring after month's is just not something they would consider.
To this end they are talking about getting rid of MS Office and going to Open Office just to avoid all the record keepings and funds that go into maintaing the MS Office licenses. I work for a district in Michigan and we are in a deep recession here, so money is tough to come by.
I also want to give you positive feedback on the site design and set up. I can see how someone with a classroom with one computer could pay for the classroom license themselves and then the students could take turns using it. Just not practical for me in a lab setting where I would need to buy 25 licenses .
Great idea and good luck!
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