Using Animation as Demonstration Tool

Using Animation as Demonstration Tool
by Ron Kurtus (revised 11 July 2005)


We've all experienced it. You go on a website and all you see are banner ads blinking, scrolling and screaming for you to "click here". This week I've chose to write about an article I read about using animations on web pages as a demonstration tool. The article was rather short but I chose it because it really got my attention on why certain web sites use this type of technology. The article talks about four main reasons for using animations on your web page. These include draw attention, demonstrate something, entertain and assist in navigation. The article goes in detail about each of these and talks about how each has it's positives and negatives. It also gives some suggestions on how to use this technology to its highest potential and get the desired result out of it.

The use of animation on websites is a very valuable tool in designing material for students. First of all the use of an animation such as a pop up or blinking ad can grab a students attention and draw them into a particular part of the web page that the teacher feels like is important. It is very important though, as the article states, to not over due this. This could cause a student to lose focus on the main page. This technology also allows you to demonstate things. Software like Powerpoint can be used as a slide show to present material. There is also the use of entertainment. It can be important to entertain a student with a game or activity to mix it up in presenting material on a page, especially with the younger crowds. Lastly, using animation to assist in navigation is good to provide a student with info on a particular area of interest. This can be achieved by using the mouse over effect or hyperlink to another page.

I believe that the use of animation on web pages used for learning is key and can be done as creatively as the teacher wants it. This article really helped me gain some knowledge and future ideas about how I will use this in my classroom one day. One thing that I am going to use this info for in my creation of my VFT as well as any Virtual experience I create in my career. I personally like the use of the entertainment factor to use a game as a way to make learning fun and exciting. I think that you have to be very careful in the objectives of the game and not make it too distracting for a younger audience. All in all I think that the use of this technology is vital and this article has really helped me gain some creative ideas in my future classroom.

I think that it would be interesting to see just what age group responds best to certain types of the four areas this article discussed. Would younger kids be too distracted by flashing ads? Would older kids use hyperlinks to go too far into cyberspace? All of these would be useful in knowing how to create an effective web page.

This article was very informative and might be a good tool to use in the creation of your VFT. Here's where you can find it: http://www.school-for-champions.com/web/animation.htm

Storyboarding: Using Pictures to Teach Words

Storyboarding: Using Pictures to Teach Words
by Julie Williams


This week I decided to choose an article about how to help your child in their writing ability with storyboards. Storyboards are a very hands on way to help students organize or even brainstorm about what they want to say with a series of pictures or illustrations. The article talks about helping a third grader's struggles in learning how to write. It talks about how in first grade all teachers are trying to do is help put words on paper, but by third grade students are expected to come up with whole ideas and work on putting them down in logical ways. The author gives some wonderful suggestions and tips on how to help guide the writer into a more organized way of writing.

The storyboard is a great way of organizing ideas that has been used for a long time. Most of the time when a student, especially a younger one, has to write about something they might have a hard time organizing their thoughts and ideas. If a student is writing about a recent trip they may be so excited about all that they did that their ideas and thougths might be really jumbled around. This might even cause them to become restless and quit the whole thing due to their attention span being challenged. The storyboard is a wonderful tool in organizing all of the thoughts and details of the subject and put them into more of a logical pattern. It also can really help the students come up with all type of creative ideas that they otherwise might not even have thought of. This type of technology isn't just being used in the classroom but also its used by lawyers, scientists and all different types of business.

I believe that the storyboard is a great tool to use in the classroom with practically any type of age group. Even in my own studies, I have found that if I'm really excited to write about something my thoughts are all over the place and things start to run together. If I didn't have a way to organize my manic brain my work might come out in a unlogical way. I'm 29 years old, I could only imagine what the brain of an 10 yr old is doing. The use of the storyboard is, in my opinion, a very hands on way to help promote thought organization and really giving a student a way to think outside of the box.

After reading this article I definitely understand more about what a storyboard is and how it can be a very effective tool in the classroom. It would be interesting to see how well younger students can stay on topic and not let the drawing of pictures distract them from the writing. It would also be interesting to find out how high school students fare with using storyboards.

If you'd like to check out the article I wrote about feel free to find it here:
http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Storyboarding_Use_pictures_help/