19/02/19

Hi,

this class was about experiencing animation and how it could be used as an educational tool. I learned it could be used as very good resource for children to creatively demonstrate their learning and understanding of a particular subject. Animation can be used very effectively to enhance lessons and help children with disabilities who may benefit greatly from this type of learning. Beauchamp (2012). There are many animation applications that can be used to create a project. I was directed to look at two by my lecturer which were Puppet Pals and i-stopmotion. We were asked to complete a short animation of a fairytale on puppet pals. This app was an easier one to use and I found it straight forward. I put together a short animation of Cinderella. I enjoyed using the app and I could see that animation was the perfect way to capture a child’s imagination and keep them captivated in what they were learning, therefor is an excellent tool to have in the classroom. Beauchamp, (2012) states “ICT resources help relieve boredom, and potentially increase motivation” I could envisage using puppet pals with an infant class especially because of its simplicity of use.

Next I looked at i-stop motion, Jarvis (2015) explains “Animation involves stringing together a sequence of static images, generally so that they appear to move”. This is exactly what the app does and I felt allows much more freedom for creativity than the puppet pals app. We were asked to plan a short animation in groups for next week although unfortunately I missed the class so planned on my own. I decided my topic would be historic events and chose a fairly recent event where an Austrian sky diver did the first ever space jump. Flelix Baumgater jumped from a helium balloon to earth on Oct 2012. I’m looking forward to putting my animation together using i-stop motion and experiencing the learning from it. I can already see the benefits of using animation across the curriculum but will there be any drawbacks?

Logging off until next week…

References

Beauchamp, G. (2012) ICT in the Primary Classroom: From Pedagogy top Practice. Pearson.

Jarvis, M. (2015) Brilliant Ideas for Using ICT in the Classroom: A Very practical Guide for Teachers and Lecturers. Routledge.