Educational Technology Innovation and Impact/Multimedia Courseware/Animation

Few would dispute the fact that people learn better when they are having fun and that generally learning is more effective when there is enjoyment linked to it. Using animation within education settings can really command the attention of the learner and when learning is presented in a fun, game like way, using sound and movement, then it is often seen as entertainment rather than education or learning. The word animation literally means to breathe life into something and animating topics within education can breathe life into what can sometimes be difficult to understand topics.

Animation within an educational setting can be used to support amongst others the teaching of English, foreign languages, music and mathematics. It is particularly beneficial for science subjects as it can clearly demonstrate how things work in a way that paper based or audio techniques alone could not.

As well as for educational support animation can also be used to educate both children and adults on health issues. Animation can provide general advice and/or create a training programme to educate patients on the effects and treatment of various conditions. Whilst these training programmes are likely to also make use of photographs, audio and video effects, animation will be crucial in creating a product to suit a multi-aged audience. Within the medical profession animation is used to enhance medical training bringing to life difficult topics and creating learning materials for different audiences. There are different animation techniques that can be used such as keeping backgrounds muted so that the main message is clear or to use a more dramatic style that has a lot of action to hold the learner’s attention.[link] Over the last century there has been much research into and theories developed about how people learn. In 1984 David Kolb created a model based on the different ways that people learn and absorb information [link http://education.academicinfo.net/articles6.html ]. Kolb believed there were four distinct styles of learning and also four distinct types of learners with most people and their learning styles falling into more than one category. Being aware of these learner types and learning styles can help ensure that the animated information presented to a group of learners is likely to be beneficial to the majority by using sound, visual effects and some interactivity.

Within business animation can support the fields of science and engineering who may have need of high quality, dynamic, photo realistic animations. Scientists and engineers already use animation to communicate complex ideas that would be otherwise difficult to visualise. In summary, computer animation can be used very effectively in all kinds of learning environments to make learning more enjoyable and ultimately more effective by stimulating and enlivening situations.