ANIMATION IN TEACHING LEARNING PROCESS

Animation is the process of making the illusion of motion and the illusion of change. Animation comes from the Latin word Animare, which means to give life or to give soul. Learning animation is like learning a new language – the language of new media and the language of modern life. The language relates to the Internet, games and films and it plays a significant part in the lives of children and young people of today.

The popularity of using animations to help learners understand and remember information has greatly increased since the advent of powerful graphics-oriented computers. This technology allows animations to be produced much more easily and cheaply than in former years. Previously, traditional animation required specialised labour-intensive techniques that were both time-consuming and expensive. In contrast, software is now available that makes it possible for individual educators to author their own animations without the need for specialist expertise. Teachers are no longer limited to relying on static graphics but can readily convert them into educational animations.

The Teaching with Animation Guide has been made to enable the teachers to explore and be acquainted with the technological and audiovisual communication specific resources of animation techniques and use them in the classroom. The guide provides you, as a teacher, with a tool that makes you capable of teaching by the use of animation.

In this guide you will find a step by step guide to do mainly computer-assisted animation and everything you will need to get you started to teach with animation. You will find advice on how to create a good story, make a storyboard on how to shoot and edit your animation. Furthermore, there are examples of how animation has previously been used in a teaching environment as well as suggestions on how to use animation.

There are short descriptions and practical examples of the different animation techniques. You will find technical support on how to set up your equipment, how to choose software and how to make a sound. Finally, you will also get an overview of the history of animation.

Animations may lack educational effectiveness if target learners can not process the presented information adequately. For example, it seems that when the subject matter is complex, learners may be overwhelmed by animated presentations. This is related to the role of visual perception and cognition in human information processing. Our human perceptual and cognitive systems have limited capacities for processing information. If these limits are exceeded, learning may be compromised. For example, the pace at which the animation presents its information may exceed the speed at which the learner can process it effectively. The accompanying animation (part of a pumping system) is problematic for this reason.

 Reference

www.animwork.dk/twa/

Lowe, R.K. (2003). Animation and learning: Selective processing of information in dynamic graphics