By Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.
What is the best way to use the activities that come with your online course? Your online course probably comes with a number of practice tests, a companion website, and numerous activities, all of which are very appealing. After all, who does not like to watch a movie, play an online game, or click on animated maps or diagrams?
You might have been pleasantly surprised to find that you performed quite well on the tests after you worked with the animated instructional activities. On the other hand, you might have been very disappointed. You learned a lot, but you were not tested on that knowledge. Thus, you did not perform well on the test.
Now is the time to step back and take a close look at the best way to use animation s that might come with your course.
First, let’s do a quick outcomes and activities evaluation:
- 1. What are you expected to be able to do when you finish the unit or the course?
- 2. If you’re supposed to be able to perform certain skills, do the animations include simulations? If so, are they realistic?
- 3. What kinds of knowledge do you need to demonstrate? If you have to be able to identify parts, answer short questions, and define terms, do the animations help you do that?
- 4. Do the animations help you remember key elements? Do they help you create a schemata?
- 5. Are the animations entertaining, but distracting? Do they focus too much on the peripheral issues?
If you can answer the questions clearly, they will help you determine which (if any) of the animations in the textbook companion site or in the course "resources" page are actually helpful.
If you’re wondering what the underlying learning principles are, it’s very helpful to take a look at research in the area of cognitive load. What is clear is that certain types of animation are almost useless, and perhaps even destructively distracting.
Bad instructional animations:
- 1. Entertaining, but focused on peripheral issues (anecdotes and context);
- 2. Non-interactive, requiring the learner to be passive;
- 3. Presented out of sequence, with complex concepts presented first, without scaffolding;
- 4. Does not encourage deeper learning, or the development of classification / organization schemes.
In addition, researchers Ayres and Paas (2007) found that certain guiding principles could be followed, which would result in more effective animations:
The first three are as follows:
- 1. Animations will be more effective if they are segmented into smaller sections.
- 2. Animations will be more effective if the learner has control over the presentation.
- 3. Animations will be more effective if key information is cued or signaled. (Ayres & Paas, 2007, p. 815)
Ayres and Paas also pointed out that the measure of animation efficacy was not always directly measured by looking at recall and performance on standardized tests. Further, if animation effectiveness is measured by results on tests and other performative aspects, the conclusions may be faulty. The research design must take into consideration that individual learning styles and preferences are important, as well as the kind of interactivity that is incorporated with the animations.
This is not to say that animations should be avoided. Quite the contrary is true. Animations are extremely useful in online courses. The key is to know when, where, and how to use them.
Ayres, P. and Paas, F. (2007) Can the Cognitive Load Approach Make Instructional Animations More Effective? Applied Cognitive Psychology. 21: 811-820