The Animation and Interactivity Principles in Multimedia Learning
From Eduwiki
Chapter Introduction - This chapter discusses the elements of animation and its usefulness in the educational environment. It reviews the limited studies and research done about the advantages and disadvantages of using animations to explain ideas and concepts to students.
Animation - the book describes animation as a series of frames appearing as a slight change from the previous one to create motion. There are three levels of analysis that are used to characterize the concept of animation. First is the technical level in which the devices used to create the animation are discussed. The second level is semiotics or how the animation runs, including changing view points, motions, and transformations. Third is the psychological level which refers to the cognitive processes involved when viewing and trying to understand an animation.
Animation and Interactivity - There are two different dimensions to interactivity in animation, control and interactive behavior and these dictate how to structure an educational animation. When designing an animation educators should be concerned with when and how an animation should be used to improve learning. There are three main uses. 1)Supporting the Visual and the Mental Representation Process, showing a moving version of what is seen in still pictures. 2) Producing a Cognitive Conflict, showing more abstract concepts like objects of different volumes fall at the same rate. 3) Enabling Learners to Explore a Phenomenon, using animation to help students memorize and understand concepts though viewing and testing phenomenons.
Review of Research on Animation and Interactivity - Not much research has been done on the usefulness of animations over traditional graphics. The studies suggest that showing animations takes away the students cognitive necessity. It was also said that the affect on those learning with animation and those learning from traditional text methods was not very different. The author seems to suggest that animation is not necessary in the classroom and that those who are novice learners may suffer from such interactive methods.
What Are the Limitations of Research on Animation and Interactivity? - This final section discusses the flaws in the research and the laboratory type experiments instead of testing in the classroom. Here flip sides to the usefulness of animations in the classroom are discussed. The Cognitive Theory states that animations will help those students that poor skills to understand concepts, but it goes on to state that it is an illusion of understanding because the animation saves the learner from having to create a mental simulation. For this reason the researchers have said animations should be used only when needed and students will clearly benefit from it under two conditions. 1) animations that show change over time that students cannot conceptualize. 2) learners are not familiar with the subject so they cannot form a mental model or have a high cognitive load for the lesson. After these parameters have been established then an animation can be made following the five principles of instructional animation design. a)apprehension principle, b)congruence principle, c) interactivity principle, d)attention-guiding principle and e)flexibility principle.
