The Unique Structure of Jeff Lemire's Essex County

Photo Provided By:  Comics212, Jeff Lemire  

     In Jeff Lemire's graphic novel Essex County,  there are three interesting stories that intertwine in one book. These tales take a look at ordinary people's lives in a rural town in Essex County, Canada. Book one entitled, Tales from the Farm, is about a young pre-teen boy named Lester who lives with his new caregiver, his Uncle Ken. Lester lives with him on his farm because his mother passed away from cancer. Lester soon becomes friends with the cashier of a local gas station, Jimmy Lebeuf who we find out is a washed up ex hockey player. The two outcasts get along, and Lester shares his love of super hero comics to Jimmy. Lester's Uncle Ken knows all about Jimmy Lebeuf and his past, and disapproves of Lester spending time with him. In the next book, Ghost Stories, Lemire delves into the life of Lou Lebeuf, Jimmy's brother. He is an elderly senile man who has lost his hearing. He narrates his life story and the up and down relationship with his brother. He also has to realize that his time is almost up, and he passes away at the end. The third book, The Country Nurse. Lemire's last book of Essex County  goes into the life of Lou Lebeuf's nurse. This books deals with the nurse's loss of her son, and her relationships with how she is connected to Lester, Ken, and the Lebeufs. This chapter really ties everything together, and gives the reader a realization and understanding of the story as a whole. 

     I like how the author doesn't just jump right out and reveal why Uncle Ken feels this way about Lester. He makes it an intriguing reading/viewing experience. Lemire does an amazing job structuring the the story in these three books because it makes to reader curious to find out more about these characters and how they tie into the story as a whole. He brings a lot more character development using this method or structure. All in all Lemire's structure for this novel is genius!

An Overview and Thoughts on Game-Based Learning

Photo Provided By: Center4EduPunx

My blogging research assignment on game-based learning has been very eye-opening.  It was interesting to research the use and effectiveness of game-based learning in the school, military and industrial settings. 

Being a digital native, I was very aware of the use of gaming as a learning tool in a school setting.  I have to agree with Bill Gate's assessment that game-based learning will be the future of education. I fully expect that my future children will have a much greater technology-based education than I had.  Students are so very motivated by learning through technology.  It provides a safe setting to learn and make mistakes, as well as instant rewards and feedback and remediation.  It was interesting to research recommended games and to find out that there are a wide range of learning games that can be used for experiences as basic as preschoolers learning colors, numbers and letters to medical school students learning the intricacies of human anatomy.

Photo Provided By: Paolo.Pace

       I was probably most shocked to find out that the US Military is the largest purchaser of game-based learning technology. Their use of game-based learning makes real sense considering that the majority of their new recruits are digital natives and already quite used to game-based technology. They have programs like "America's Army", that is used as a recruiting tool and programs that teach nearly every job that is done in a military setting.  They also save a great deal of money, lives, and equipment by using simulators to teach the use of equipment, vehicles, and weaponry.  This makes a lot of sense and keeps highly expensive machinery from being damaged during practice.

Photo Provided By: pheaber

   I knew that game-based learning was used in industry, but was unaware of the extensiveness of its usage.  Game based learning can teach everything from job skills, the use of equipment and machinery, customer service techniques to the proper serving size of products.  The better educated workers are about all aspects of the company that they work for the more money a company makes and saves. Additionally, I found that the use of simulators in the medical community quite fascinating.  It’s good to know that doctors, nurses, and dentists have a safe place to practice their skills before they use them on me!

       Overall, this study on the use and effectiveness of game-based learning has shown me that in all areas game-based learning provides a motivational, safe realm for effective learning that provides essential practice and feedback.  Schools, the military, and industry are destined to keep game-based education as a tool of their teaching and training for a long, long time.

Game-based Learning in the Medical Field

     The idea for this post came to me while visiting my sister at medical school this past weekend.  I knew I wanted this posting to be an expansion of the uses of game-based learning in industry, but I wasn’t 100% certain of which direction to take until my sister told me about working with the patient simulators in the technology lab at her school. 

She attends the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) in Lewisburg, WV, a school that leads the country in producing physicians who give optimal patient care.  One of the many reasons for their success has to with their practice on patient simulators, or as the students call them, robots.  WVSOM has an entire wing of their technology building modeled to look like patient rooms in a doctor’s office, emergency room, or hospital environment.  Each of these patient rooms contain robots modeled after men, women and children in need of medical care.  

Photo Provided By:Robert Couse-Baker

      While these simulators certainly don’t replace actual patients, they give the medical students at WVSOM the opportunity to learn and to practice their new skills in a safe environment without the fear of harming an actual patient when trying a procedure for the first time.  All of the patient simulators have pulses, a heartbeat, lung sounds, their chest that moves up and down, they have pupillary light response, they can blink, have a blood pressure and can speak with the aid of a facilitator.  Their heart has real rhythms that can be programmed into arrhythmias and the can be given CPR chest compressions and defibrillation, if needed. Student doctors can administer medications to them, take their blood pressure, put in IVs, intubate them, administer CPR to them and do many other procedures.  There are even specialized simulators like Harvey, who simulates actual heart and lung sounds, or Noel who gives birth.       Each of these robots provides the student doctors with important training before they attempt these procedures on a real patient.

     It’s not just medical schools that use simulators. Dental students at the Medical College of Georgia, and other schools of dentistry, use simulators to practice patient care and to do tricky procedures like tooth implantation or extraction.  Many university hospitals have surgical programs or simulators that allow doctors to practice difficult surgeries via computer or simulator before doing the actual procedure on a real patient. Programs, like “Pulse” that provide civilian and military doctors a place to practice patient care and clinical skills.  There are even computer games, like “Free Dive,” that are used as a distraction to manage pain in pediatric patients while they are undergoing painful procedures. In this game, children can simulate an undersea dive and experience the peaceful life in the ocean, as the doctors attend to their needs.

     Game-based learning is a very effective tool in so many realms.  Its use in the medical field provides a safe playing field for student doctors and dentists, as well as practicing dentists, physicians and other medical staff to practice many areas of patient care and procedures.

Compare and Contrast Framing: Maus II and Essex County, Book Two, Ghost Stories

Photo By: Hannah Parker

Photo By: Hannah Parker

 

Throughout this semester of this course, we were to choose three additional graphic novels from a list to read from. My first choice, that I eagerly selected was Art Spiegelman’s Maus, A Survivor’s Tale Part II, And Here My Troubles Began. After reading Part I, I was intrigued and adamant to know what the rest of Vladek’s story consisted of. Although, for this particular blog my mission is to compare and contrast frame usage of Spiegelman’s Part II of Maus, and that of Jeff Lemire’s Essex County, Book Two: Ghost Stories. Though both books are very much different in style and story a few comparisons could be made about frame usage. 

 

Comparisons of frame usage:

Both Spiegelman and Lemire use mostly simple closed square or rectangular frames for their illustrations and text. 

The authors both use large frames, especially

Lemire, to give the reader a more detailed close up view.

      They both briefly use actual pictures or drawn pictures within the frame or  the area surrounding it to tell their stories. When Lou LeBeuf from Essex County, finds his and his brother’s old scrapbook, the reader sees an illustrated image of a scrapbook with photos and memorabilia. Spiegelman shows an actual photo of Vladek, and drawn photos surround his frames.  

 

  Contrasts of frame usage:

  Lemire uses up a lot of space with his frames, where as Spiegelman’s frames are very close together, unified and crowded.

       In Book Two: Ghost Stories, there were a lot more close-ups on the character’s faces, and almost hardly any close-ups in Maus Part II. 

      
          




             Lemire uses a lot more one-page frames than Spiegelman.

I think that Art Spiegelman uses these types of framing methods because there is much more dialogue between the characters than in Essex County. Also, it may be conceptual that his frames are so crowded and tight because that’s how his father, Vladek felt, cramped and crowded during his rough times during the Holocaust. I also think that Jeff Lemire uses large images because it allows him to shows a lot of movement, or action packed scenes in his novel.   

  

What Do Beer and Ice Cream Have in Common?

Yes, they’re cold and might be considered very refreshing by their avid fans, but the main thing they have in common in industry is that they have the potential to be wasted.   A spilled beer at a ballgame or a dropped ice cream cone at the park isn’t the waste that concerns the beer and ice cream industries.   It’s the few ounces of draft that’s spilled at the bar tap and the few extra teaspoons of chocolate ice cream that gets mixed into your sundae that concerns industry leaders.  Small, wasted, or overused amounts of product add up to big money in the food and beverage industry.  This is why corporations like The Miller Brewing Company and The Cold Stone Creamery have developed employee training programs that include video games that teach employees proper portion control to limit waste of product.

Photo Provided By: Sonnett

            Concerned that too much beer was missing the glass, the Miller Brewing Company developed “Tips on Tap.”  This is a simulated game, for players 21 and older, designed to teach proper serving techniques, as well as positive customer service. Along with teaching players how to interact appropriately with all types of customers, it also contains a mini-game called “Score Your Pour.” This game explains how to perfectly pour a glass of beer without spilling. It also uses an algorithm to determine the amount of head on the beer, depending on how the player situates the mug. Different techniques can be used to create the perfect pour.  A score is given at the end based on the head and on the amount spilled (Web Courseworks). This mini-game is also free to play online.  The best I could do on my pour was a 67%.  I don’t see bar work in my future!

Photo Provided By: crimsong19

            The Cold Stone Creamery was also having concerns about the amount of ice cream that its workers were serving.  Every time a worker unthinkingly added a few teaspoons extra to an order the company lost money.  The company created an interactive video game to train employees to focus on their portion sizes.  In this game, players have to serve customers in various scenarios. The game has an ice cream simulator that mimics the viscosity of real ice cream.  Players can pay against one another on the company’s intranet.  The game was so successful among employees that “more than 30% of Cold Stone Creamery employees voluntarily downloaded it the first week” (Bloomberg). This game is not free to the general public to play online, but is available for free to employees.

            In addition to teaching employees not to waste their products, the use of video game technology also saves money by alleviating the expense of having teachers and trainers fly to a central training area to present information.  Employees can train themselves in routine tasks while playing video games.  Also, computer games for industry are much less expensive to make than those for the military or home use because most don’t rely on high-tech graphics (Bloomberg).  Though game-based learning isn’t the only tool needed to train employees it is a highly effective way to help save waste in some corporations.  

                                                                  Sources

           

Bloomberg Business Week Magazine. “On-The-Job Video Gaming.” March 26, 2006. Web.

http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2006-03-26/on-the-job-video-gaming

Link to site to purchase Stone City

http://www.persuasivegames.com/games/game.aspx?game=coldstone

“How Did Miller Brewing Get Staff Excited About Serving?” Web Courseworks, Milwaukee, http://www.webcourseworks.com/custom-learning/games-and-simulations/score-your-pour (Link to Pour your Score)