Going into this session I was apprehensive and wasn’t looking forward to the class. I was worried in case again I felt like my time was for nothing. However, things changed.
My partner and I brought all the equipment that we needed and our 
copy of the story board, so we knew what we were doing. Before we started our story board, we watched YouTube clips on different ways that other had done this sort of animation before to gain ideas on the way we wanted to portray this. Having agreed on the design, before starting today we both spoke about the idea that we were going with and ensured we both know exactly what the plan was. However, we are always told when 
working in a teaching environment, have a backup plan and a plan for that backup plan. The equipment that we used was simply paper and colouring pens. Cutting the objects out of paper and colouring in the objects the colours are supposed to be. As we had already gathered our information it meant that we didn’t need to spend time gathering information and could get on with it. I think this also helped with my understanding of animation because I knew what the plan was and I knew what hadn’t worked for me the week before, so I knew not to make those same mistakes again. We made speech bubbles of information around the objects. We shared the work equally meaning we weren’t as stressed because we worked well collaboratively and communicated with each other effectively. Also, because there was only two of us it meant that we knew the jobs we had to do had to be done as planned and we couldn’t rely on someone else to do it. I feel groups of 2-3 people in a classroom setting would challenge the pupils to work their hardest and put it the most effort that they can. This would also mean there would be less time for them to get distracted which would mean they would gain a lot from this 
learning experience. I really enjoy the fact that we did make everything that we used. It allowed us to be creative and show an artistic side that can’t always be shown. However, this did mean that all of our work was in 2D form so this is maybe something, if I was to do this activity again that I would develop and change to 3D form.
We targeted this at children in first level. The curriculum experiences and outcomes we met were:
- I have contributed to discussions of current scientific news items to help develop my awareness of science. (SCN 1-20a)
- Using digital technologies responsibly I can access, retrieve and use information to support, enrich or extend learning in different contexts. (TCH 1-02a)
- I can create and present work using the visual elements of line, shape, form, colour, tone, pattern and texture. (EXA 1-03)
(Education.gov.scot, n.d.)
Our activity received good feedback from both our peers and our lecturer we did find that our activity needed longer time to finish having all the knowledge in it than expected. Therefore, this required a lot of photos having to be taken which was quite time consuming so again we did struggle ensuring that we were only moving the object the tiniest bit, but we had definitetly developed.
I think it this task could be great for the children to complete as a learning experience as they can then see the final results of what their hard work created.
Bertrancourt (2005) suggests three ways in which animation can be used to enhance learning:
- To enhance learners’ visual representations.
- To illustrate processes.
- To provide an interactive element.
(Jarvis, 2015, p92)
When completing the task, it was clear that when using it in the classroom it would allow children to develop some important skills. Their communication skills would be developed as for some children, it may be easier to make and show someone their ideas, concepts and storyline rather than writing it down. Therefore, it is allowing children to play to their strengths in the hope that they gain a better understanding and retention of information. The children would also be working on the collaborative working skills as you would probably do this activity in pairs or groups so you would have to work well together, share and communicate your ideas and work to get the best outcome and get the most from the learning experience. They would be working on their presentation skills as they would be showing their creation to others and would need to make sure it was interesting and engaging for the other pupils. This would hopefully also allow their confidence to improve also. It would give pupils the opportunity to work on their creativity skills as they would have to plan and implement the whole thing. It would hopefully give some pupils a push put of their comfort zone that they may need in order to move onto the next developmental stage of learning.
My opinion on animation has changed completely. I thoroughly enjoyed this session and seeing the final outcome. I enjoyed the fact I brushed up on my own knowledge, worked on my creative skills and also learnt more on this program. I think because there was a purpose to what we were doing this week it really gave me that drive to forget the week before and push on. Having reflected on this week’s session, this is something I would use as a learning experience with a purpose to ensure all attention and focus was used.
Here is my final animation.
References
- Education.gov.scot. (n.d.). Curriculum For Excellence. [online] Available at: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/All-experiencesoutcomes18.pdf [Accessed 22 Jan. 2019].
- Jarvis, M. (2015) Brilliant Ideas for Using ICT in the Classroom: A Very practical Guide for Teachers and Lecturers. Routledge.
- Moving Image Education website: [Online] https://movingimageeducation.org/create-films/animation [Accessed 26 Feb. 2019]
