Data Comics for Education: Evaluating Effectiveness, Benefits, and the Ethics of AI-Assisted Creation

This study investigated the educational effectiveness of data comics—a form of data storytelling that uses narrative structures like panels, characters, and sequences to explain data. With 60 university students, the researchers conducted a within-subjects experiment comparing conventional visualizations (e.g., standard charts) with data comics co-created using Generative AI (GenAI) tools like DALL-E 3. Effectiveness was measured through accuracy in information retrieval and comprehension tasks, while thematic analysis was used to capture student perceptions and ethical concerns regarding AI-assisted content creation.

Data comics consistently outperformed conventional visualizations across all performance metrics. The most significant gains were observed in comprehension tasks, where students were better able to derive insights and understand relationships between multiple data points. Interestingly, while students with higher visualization literacy performed better overall, the relative benefit of using data comics remained consistent across all literacy levels. Students reported that the narrative flow and visual cues in comics made data more accessible and engaging. However, they also identified potential drawbacks, such as the risk of information overload when layouts become too busy and the potential for oversimplification of complex data.

Despite the pedagogical benefits, the use of GenAI raised significant ethical concerns among participants. The most prominent issues included the potential for GenAI to hallucinate or propagate misinformation, the risk of perpetuating historical or algorithmic biases, and ambiguity regarding intellectual property and ownership of AI-generated imagery. Students emphasized that while these tools are powerful, they require rigorous human oversight to ensure the credibility and trustworthiness of educational materials.