The Animation and Interactivity Principles in
Multimedia Learning
Mireille Betrancourt
TECFA, Geneva University, Chapter proposed to R.E. Mayer (Ed.) The Cambridge
Handbook of Multimedia Learning.
ABSTRACT
Computer animation
has a tremendous potential to provide visualizations of dynamic phenomena that
involve change over time (e.g., biological processes, physical phenomena,
mechanical devices, historical development). However, the research reviewed in
this chapter showed that learners did not systematically take advantage of
animated graphics in terms of memorization and comprehension of the underlying
causal or functional model. This chapter reviewed the literature about the
interface and content features that affect the potential benefits of animation
over static graphics. Finally, I proposed some guidelines that designers should
consider when designing multimedia instruction including animation.
What
Are the Animation Principle and the Interactivity Principle?
In the last decade,
with the rapid progression of computing capacities and the progress of graphic
design technologies, multimedia learning environments have evolved from
sequential static text and picture frames to increasing sophisticated
visualizations. Two characteristics appear to be essential to instruction designers
and practitioners: the use of animated graphics as soon as depiction of dynamic
system. Baek and Layne (1988) defined animation as “the process of generating a series of frames containing an object or
objects so that each frame appears as an alteration of the previous frame in
order to show motion” (p. 132). Gonzales (1996) proposed a broader
definition of animation as “a series of
varying images presented dynamically according to user action in ways that help
the user to perceive a continuous change over time and develop a more
appropriate mental model of the task” (p. 27).
This definition however
contained the idea that the user interacts with the display (even minimally by
hitting any key). In this chapter we do not restrict animation to interactive
graphics, and choose Betrancourt and Tversky’s (2000) definition: “computer animation refers to any
application which generates a series of frames, so that each frame appears as
an alteration of the previous one, and where the sequence of frames is
determined either by the designer or the user” (p 313). It does not
stipulate what the animation is supposed to convey, and it separates the issue
of animation from the issue of interaction.
Examples of scenario using animation and interactivity
The main concern for
instructional designers and educational practitioners can be summarized by the
simple question: When and how should animation be used to improve learning?
Three main uses of animations in learning situations can be distinguished.
Supporting the visualization and the mental
representation process
The first situation is
not substantially different from the situations in which graphics are used:
Animation provides a visualization of a dynamic phenomenon, when it is not easily
observable in real space and time scales (e.g., plaques tectonics, circulatory
system, or weather maps), when the real phenomenon is practically impossible to
realize in a learning situation (too dangerous or too costly), or when it is
not inherently visual (e.g., electrical circuit, expansion of writing over
times, or representation of forces). In this perspective, animation is not
opposed to static graphics but to the observation of the real phenomenon.
Conceptions of interactivity
First of all, a clear
distinction should be made between two kinds of interactivity: control and
interactive behavior. Whereas control is the capacity of learner to act upon
the pace and direction of the succession of frames (e.g., pause-play, rewind,
forward, fast forward, fast rewind, step by step, and direct access to the desired
frame), interactivity is defined as the capability to act on what will appear
on the next frame by action on parameters. For purposes of this chapter,
interactivity is meant as control over the pace of animation.
Implication for Cognitive Theory
As Schnotz (2003) stated, three functions can be
attributed to animations with regard to the elaboration of a mental model of a
dynamic system: enabling, facilitating or
inhibiting functions. When learners are novices or have poor imagery
capabilities, animations enable learners to visualize the system that otherwise
they would not be able to mentally simulate. Second, even when learners are
capable of mentally simulating a dynamic system, providing animation can lower the
cognitive cost of mental simulation thus saving cognitive resources for
learning. The formation of a “runnable” mental model of the system (Mayer,
1989) is then facilitated.
However, as animation saves learners from mentally
simulating the functioning of the system, it may induce a shallow processing of
the animated content, and consequently leads to what can be called the
“illusion of understanding”. Then the elaboration of a mental model is
inhibited by animation. This obstacle can be avoided by designing carefully the
instructional situation, in which learners are engaged in active processing
while viewing the animated document.
