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Observations and advice

An overarching goal of implementing this project in academic curricula is to allow students to contribute to the academic field within the respective discipline of the class. Initially, these dynamic systems/processes that are designed by students will be fairly basic, but with continued use, they will be able to contribute immensely to their field by developing new animations that help teach other students. With the support of an academic institution, the animations developed by students can be used as supplementary learning material within the school and shared with other schools or perhaps published.

One of the main lessons learned from implementing this activity is the creative ability and skill that is honed by continuous use of these technologies. Although it may prove to be difficult at first, once a user has identified all the available tools and experienced different uses for each, it becomes very intuitive to break down a highly elaborate process into small structures, geometries, images, and animations that can be grouped together to demonstrate a harmonic process.

A major outcome of this assignment is to develop students professionally. Too often students are not able to visually represent something in a simple, clear, and complete manner; this technique allows students to explore this ability further. In their professional life, whether creating devices, developing algorithms, teaching, or any other line of work, the techniques students explore here will give them a creative ability to always illustrate their thoughts and innovations to an audience in a very visually effective manner.

Further reading

Ayres, P., Marcus, N., Chan, C., & Qian, N. (2009). Learning hand manipulative tasks: When instructional animations are superior to equivalent static representations. Computers in Human Behavior, 25(2), 348-353.

Berk, R. A. (2011). Research on PowerPoint®: From basic features to multimedia. International Journal of Technology in Teaching and Learning, 7(1), 24-35.

Carmichael, S. W., & Pawlina, W. (2000). Animated PowerPoint as a tool to teach anatomy. The Anatomical Record, 261(2), 83-88.

Gebre, E., Saroyan, A., & Bracewell, R. (2014). Students’ engagement in technology rich classrooms and its relationship to professors’ conceptions of effective teaching. British Journal of Educational Technology, 45(1), 83-96.

Hoyek, N., Collet, C., Rienzo, F., Almeida, M., & Guillot, A. (2014). Effectiveness of threedimensional digital animation in teaching human anatomy in an authentic classroom context. Anatomical Sciences Education, 7(6), 430-437.

Mayer, R. E. (2003). The promise of multimedia learning: Using the same instructional design methods across different media. Learning and Instruction, 13(2), 125-139.

O’day, D. H. (2006). Animated cell biology: A quick and easy method for making effective, high-quality teaching animations. CBE-Life Sciences Education, 5(3), 255-263.

Ruffini, M. F. (2009). Creating animations in PowerPoint to support student learning and engagement. Educause Quarterly, 32(4), 1-4.

Schrand, T. (2008). Tapping into active learning and multiple intelligences with interactive multimedia: A low-threshold classroom approach. College Teaching, 56(2), 78-84.

Sewasew, D., Mengestie, M., & Abate, G. (2015). A comparative study on power point presentation and traditional lecture method in material understandability, effectiveness and attitude. Educational Research and Reviews, 10(2), 234.

Singh, S., Singh, S., & Gautam, S. (2009). Teaching styles and approaches: Medical student’s perceptions of animation-based lectures as a pedagogical innovation. Pakistan Journal Physiology, 5(1), 16-19.

Stasko, J.T. (1997). Using student-built algorithm animations as learning aids (Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 25-29). ACM.

Stith, B. J. (2004). Use of animation in teaching cell biology. Cell Biology Education, 3(3), 181.

Weiss, R. E., Knowlton, D. S., & Morrison, G. R. (2002). Principles for using animation in computer-based instruction: Theoretical heuristics for effective design. Computers in Human Behavior, 18(4), 465-477.

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Observations and advice
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