absorb information 60,000x faster!
Animation is a powerful tool, so we’re looking at how it can be used in education! We’re not talking about teaching people animation, but how it can be used to teach people everything else. So, do you want to teach at a rate of 60,000 times faster than before? We can help you! (okay, not literally, but you’ll get the gist of it).
Animation adds a whole new world of flexibility to education and learning. Whether it be for the kids, higher education or training purposes, it allows teachers to transfer their teaching to the digital world. Not only is this more accessible for everybody, but the ability to look back at the visuals is another level of practicality in itself. Not to mention the accessibility for people with impairments too, who could greatly benefit from these flexible ways of learning! A study into how animation can be used in higher education found that one of the main benefits is how it facilitates flexible and self-paced learning1, which in turn proved more successful with individuality within learning and self-assessed levels of understanding.
Research has shown that retention of information is higher when presented visually2, whilst it is also a lot quicker. In 2020, education is transforming and innovating more than ever to suit the needs of learners in a technological age, so getting in on this and enhancing the student experience is important, and animation is a great step forward!
Before we get stuck into it, here are some baseline examples of how animation can be used:
Explainer videos
For sciences, to explore complex and detailed topics in visual form, like healthcare and the human body, for example
For large scale learning, like in Geography, to contextualise form and time scales, to demonstrate change
To enhance design subjects, to bring ideas and proposals to life or to visualise engineering concepts
For niche subjects, to explain the core reasoning behind a course, what will be learnt, how it will be taught etc.
Animated presentations
Enhance the learning experience in any area, or to give visual overviews in a much more interesting and engaging way
Visual aids in examinations, tests and quizzes
To make learning flexible, by publishing lessons online in a visual or interactive form
Of course, these are just some examples, but they could easily be adapted to suit because the principle of what we’re talking about here is to utilise a method of learn-by-viewing and learn-by-doing!
Why is animation effective for education?
Firstly; Animation can be used across every single subject taught at an early age and helps them relate to the matter by quickly overcoming complex elements3. Little ones develop their knowledge at different ages and different paces, so the flexibility of using animation and visualisations helps everybody to cope in their own manner. There is research that proves the brain processes visuals at a rate of around 60,000x faster than plain text,4 and that looking at an image for just 13 milliseconds is long enough for it to be understood! Now think of how long it takes you to read this sentence? Never mind if you were a child! It’s an astonishing difference, and when you’re younger your brain learns quicker, so it is prime time to use brilliant animations to help children progress through their education.
Take a look at History Bombs – an existing, fun and effective online resource for history teachers to use in the classroom to increase engagement – just one great example of how visual learning is already being implemented in education, allowing younger children to get hooked in on the subject. Imagine the limitless possibilities when using animation!
Secondly; Looking at Tertiary education, we think explainer videos are a great example of how to teach with flexibility, making content transferable, accessible and visual helps with online teaching, collaboration, and speed. Throughout any subject, school, university or even training in work, animation can be used in presenting to enhance the overview of a subject or course, to bring what students snub as ‘boring’ seminars and lectures to life! We want to help you hold people’s attention, to convey complex matters and increase engagement, and that’s why we offer animation as such a useful tool. “Visual presentation embeds concepts in young minds more firmly.”5
Using animation can make things easier to understand, by demonstrating concepts in a practical form, or presenting true-to-life examples in tests, exams, studies etc. Bringing a sense of reality to the matter can help learners develop their own practical skills whilst retaining more information. The list goes on… but it’s not just our opinion! Using visual aids such as video animations to both teach and test is proven to be more successful too, with 40% of learners responding better to familiar visual information, compared to text alone,6 because they can calculate and process imagery straight away – there’s no reading between the lines!
Take a look here at a study by Google, which shows that 56% of people who use YouTube do so to learn something. YouTube is pure video content, so that says it all – that’s why you should tap into this by using original animated content to teach in a visually delighting way!
There are endless possibilities when it comes to animation, not least with the examples we’ve referenced. Whether you have ideas or want ideas from us, and look to use animation for educational use, feel free to get in touch for a no-obligation call or email for an enquiry! Keep up to date with us by following on social media too. Happy teaching!
1 Animating student engagement
4 The Power of Visual eLearning