Why this blog post? Because I want to share the comic I, as “Academic Adventuress” made with ChatGPT. There is probably some deeper thinking that could happen…but it’s Sunday. So here you go:
How I Made It:
A few weeks ago, I was pulling together all the documents for my 3rd year review–I have to share all the work I’ve done in the past 3 years at New Mexico State University, including articles I’ve written, class syllabi, student evaluations, etc. I also had to write an executive summary. I dropped all the materials into an LLM then had it help me write the summary.
I realized: sure, I can write a summary, but wouldn’t it be cooler for the reviewers to be able to interact with my portfolio? So I created a basic GPT that has my review materials as its “knowledge.” It can interact around my portfolio–answer questions, create summaries–it even tells stupid jokes. And yes, sometimes makes stuff up, but it’s all been good stuff.
Today I was exploring the new image generators used by OpenAI and Gemini. I asked the 3rd Year Review GPT to create a comic strip about me:
Now presenting…
🎬 “The Academic Adventures of Dr. Melissa Warr” — A Comic Strip Concept
Here’s a delightful comic concept that turns Dr. Warr’s scholarly life into an epic, family-friendly cartoon!
📦 Panel 1: “Origin Story: The Learning Spark”
- Image: Young Melissa reading under a blanket fort with a flashlight, surrounded by books and a toy robot.
- Text (Narration): “Before she was Dr. Warr, she was just a curious kid asking a lot of questions.”
- Speech Bubble (Kid Melissa): “But why do teachers make us do worksheets?”
📦 Panel 2: “PhD Mode: Activated!”
- Image: Melissa in graduate school at Arizona State, surrounded by coffee cups and sticky notes, typing passionately.
- Text (Narration): “Fueled by creativity and caffeine, she dove into research about teachers, tech, and learning.”
- Speech Bubble: “Let’s design better ways to help teachers think like designers!”
📦 Panel 3: “Level Up! NMSU Bound”
- Image: Melissa in front of New Mexico State University, holding a laptop with a desert sunset and cactus in the background.
- Text (Narration): “In 2022, she joined NMSU and started training the next generation of educators!”
- Speech Bubble: “Okay class, today we’re making podcasts about pedagogy!”
📦 Panel 4: “The Battle of the Biased Bot”
- Image: Dr. Warr in a superhero cape confronting a giant AI robot spouting biased suggestions.
- Text (Narration): “Her research uncovered hidden biases in AI—and she wasn’t afraid to take a stand.”
- Speech Bubble (Dr. Warr): “That’s not fair feedback! Time to debug your bias, Bot!”
📦 Panel 5: “Allies Assemble!”
- Image: Melissa in a Zoom call with colleagues around the world, forming the “BAISed Research Collaborative.”
- Text (Narration): “She brought together brilliant minds to fight injustice in algorithms—one research paper at a time.”
- Speech Bubble (Teammate): “Let’s present this at SITE!”
- Speech Bubble (Melissa): “And blog about it too!”
📦 Panel 6: “The Classroom Quest”
- Image: Dr. Warr in an online class, students building interactive projects and raising virtual hands.
- Text (Narration): “Her students didn’t just learn—they created things that mattered.”
- Speech Bubble (Student): “Can I share my digital storybook with my school?”
📦 Panel 7: “Awards & Sidekicks”
- Image: Trophy shelf labeled “Emerging Scholar,” “Service Award,” and “$100K+ in Grants,” plus Melissa’s family cheering in the background.
- Text (Narration): “With love, laughter, and lots of late nights, her work earned recognition far and wide.”
- Speech Bubble (Family): “That’s our Dr. Warr!”
📦 Panel 8: “To Be Continued…”
- Image: Melissa at her desk with a “Stay Curious” poster, looking out the window at the stars.
- Text (Narration): “The journey’s just beginning. Because for Dr. Warr, the future of learning is still being written…”
- Speech Bubble (Dr. Warr): “Now, what if we used AI to amplify creativity?”
I noticed a missed opportunity of an event in my life…so added this:
📦 Bonus Panel: “Deep Thoughts at Girl’s Camp”
- Image: A younger Melissa sitting by a campfire at sunset, journal in hand, surrounded by fellow campers roasting marshmallows.
- Text (Narration): “Even as a teen at Girl’s Camp, Melissa was thinking deep, meaningful thoughts…”
- Speech Bubble (Camp Leader, handing her an award): “And the ‘Deep Thoughts’ award goes to… Melissa!”
- Speech Bubble (Young Melissa): “I was just pondering how stars are like educational ideas—some shine, some explode, but all started with a spark.”
I took the comic strip description (with very minimal editing–I thought the “Adventuress” was a nice touch so left it!) and started a new chat in GPT4o. I uploaded a picture of myself to model my avatar on. Then I had it create each panel. Took some time (especially because of the current limit on how many images you can do at once), but was fun. I’m sure it’ll be faster and easier in the future.