Criação de quadrinhos digitais como suporte para o ensino das teorias da cognição no ensino superior

Abstract

The "Cognition and Digital Technologies" course offered by the Bacharelate in Digital Systems and Media of the Federal University of Ceara aims to provide students with theoretical and practical knowledge about the interaction between Cognition and Digital Technologies. Considering the lack resources that visually and playfully contextualize cognition theories (Behaviorism, Gestalt, and Sociocultural Theory) on the course website, comic strips were developed as Digital Educational Resources (DER). In this context, the present work seeks to explore the process of creating digital comics as a support for teaching theories of cognition in higher education. The general goal of this research is to analyze the creative process for the development of comics as DER from the perspective of instructional design for teaching theories of cognition at the undergraduate level. Regarding specific objectives, the study aimed to investigate how instructional design principles can be applied to create educational comics in a digital environment, as well as to identify the potential use of comics as DER for teaching theories of cognition in higher education. The methodology used in this study was qualitative of descriptive nature, with a case study as the analytical category. Data analysis was conducted based on the description of the digital comic creation process, combined with a qualitative analysis of the responses from online forms answered by 58 students enrolled in the course during the 2023.1 semester, regarding the relevance of comics as DER. The results include the development of 23 instructional webcomics, contextualizing each of the cognition theories in digital sequential narratives. Additionally, based on the analysis of online form responses, students identified several factors demonstrating the potential of comics as DER, such as presenting theoretical concepts in a playful, practical, humorous, narrative, and visual manner. Furthermore, the comics acted as facilitators in understanding abstract concepts, using an engaging language that generated student engagement, promoting social interaction, and inspiring the development of digital media in groups.