An Interactive Animated Flash Module to Teach Animation

An Interactive Animated Flash Module to Teach Animation Principles to Community College Digital Media Students Daniel N. Boulos University of Hawaii at Manoa boulos@hawaii. edu

Background This instructional design project tested the value of a Flash animated, interactive module in teaching animation principles in the Leeward Community College Digital Media Department, University of Hawaii. Research indicates that students with enhanced spatial skills benefit from graphics and animation as a method of relating key concepts (Chan. Lin 2000).

The Target Audience Community College Students of the Leeward Coast of Oahu, Hawaii 18 -72 years in age Basic computer knowledge Some learners exhibit short attention spans

Animation Instruction Previously done through apprenticing Now routinely taught in lectures for college credit Often requires multi-media assets to convey information Often requires repetition

DMED 140 Animation Principles Required for all Digital Media Associate Degree Candidates at Leeward Community College Not all students will be animation majors Many students initially have a low level of interest in the content The comprehension of the principles of animation requires focus during content delivery

Project Focus: 3 of the 7 Principles of Animation 1. Arcs 2. Timing 3. Squash and Stretch 4. Reversal of Curves 5. Successive Breaking of Joints 6. Secondary Motion 7. Overlapping Action

Design Module divided into 5 separate sections Introduction Arcs Timing Squash and Stretch Review

Tools Hardware Apple Mac. Book laptop Software Adobe Flash CS 4 Adobe Photo. Shop CS 3 Quick. Time Pro

The Module Text, Narration, Buttons, Sound Effects, Graphics, Movie Clips and Animation

The Module cont. Text Elements Advance Button Still Graphics

The Module cont. Movie Still Image sequence

The Module cont Chunking of Information

The Module cont. Side-by side movie clip comparisons Use of buttons to play movie clips and reveal answers to questions

The Module cont. Movie clips play next to still images which isolated key concepts Live Action clips play adjacent still frames with highlights done in Photo. Shop

The Module cont. Labeled diagrams across from the looping animation clips

The Module cont. Embedded Flash animation loops with highlights to clarify key concepts Final page using interactive buttons to review any section of the module

Small Group Test 15 Participants Tested in 2 sittings: 10 and 5 Tested in Digital Media Lab BS 104 at Leeward Community College 3 participants had previously taken DMED 140 1 participant did not turn in Post Test (data excluded from results)

Small Group cont. Average test time was 30 -35 min Paper-based assessment tools Pre-test Embedded Test Post-test Module required playing of a Flash Movie (. swf) file Participants advanced at their own pace Participants had the opportunity for review before the post-test

Findings and Results Seventy-one percent (10) improved their score on the post-test learners improved their scores an average of eight percent from pre-test to post-test 9 of 16 objectives showed improvement, with the weakest section in the module being Section 2

Findings and Results Section 1 : 3 of 5 objectives improved Section 3 : 4 of 6 objectives improved Section 2 : 1 of 5 objectives improved

Conclusions Section 2 needs modification before further testing It should be noted that Animation Timing is the most complex section, with concepts that are not readily perceivable in still images and must be observed in real time, using movie clips. Perhaps the paper-based test made it difficult to test for timing concepts? Timing concepts may require movie clips played in real time to create clear assessment items

Conclusions Results of the testing are ultimately positive in favor of continued module development Five of fourteen learners achieved a perfect score on the post-test, accomplishing all learning objectives Modification: computer-based assessment with integrated movie clips Flash format compatible with the University of Hawaii’s Laulima online course development site

Future Study and Implementation Modify module Modify assessment Further small group testing Integrate module as a compliment to lecture format : not all learning styles served by the multimedia module format

Mahalo Thank you for coming Q&A Daniel N. Boulos University of Hawaii at Manoa boulos@hawaii. edu