Explanatory animation framework

4.3 The ongoing praxis known as the Explanatory Animation Framework (EAF) (Jacobs 2008).

For this study, the specific practice of creating explanatory animations is conducted using the EAF that I have developed over many years working in a primary school setting. It is best described as praxis because these guidelines are both practical and theoretical, established and yet open to ongoing refinement. "Praxis refers to the process of embedding the development of theory in practical action. Theory and practice are seen as reciprocal rather than hierarchical or sequential." (Somekh & Lewin 2005:347)

An explanation and definition of what constitutes a concept is necessary as the Storyboard participants had to choose a conceptual topic for their animation. The word concept itself is "up for grabs" according to one summary of the cognitive science literature in this area. (Medin & Rips 2005:37) A concept is normally defined as an idea or something formed in the mind. The Oxford English Dictionary defines concepts as: “n. Idea of a class of objects, general notion.” A definition which I've developed for "concept" is: "The articulation of a system containing at least one variable.” It’s not my jurisdiction to redefine common words but a concept is clearly more than a temporal thought. The system quality embodies the component parts which are best identified through reflection and discussion. The “system” quality is a departure from the usual definition of merely being an “idea” but it is an important distinction. I am using concept as a relational term where variables impact upon the holistic system.

Modern conceptual change research is a relatively new field which has emerged over the last 25 years. (Vosniadou 2008) Much of the discussion in the educational psychology literature involves the classification of perceptible attributes and features. Examples of this are "robin" and "bird" because a robin is a bird but not all birds are robins. (Chi 2008:62) Most of this is of little relevance to the Storyboard project as our goal was to explore the uniqueness of each conceptual topic by looking past the similarities to other conceptual topics on a case-by-case basis.

An emphasis on classification is analogous to Venn diagrams. A Venn diagram allows for uniqueness but without showing how or why. A better metaphor for the Storyboard project is that of a schematic diagram. A map or a train network is a good example of how only the salient points are included. Each stop is represented as being equidistant and the lines are all drawn as if they're straight because minor deviations in distance and position are not important. This has practical implications for creating animations such as minimising the number of variables.

Explaining a concept is a dynamic process that a person enters into through interaction and representation, either figurative or literal. For this reason I also use the adjective conceptual as any topic which requires explanation could be considered to be conceptual. Conceptualisation has many parallels with visualisation. “The term ‘visualise’ or ‘visualised’ refers to neither objects nor direct perceptions, but to a mode, process or dimension of understanding, a strategy of comprehension or conceptualization.” (Wagner 2006:55) Some cognitive scientists such as Gardenfors (2004:10) have also identified the "system" nature of concepts by describing frameworks to define and represent concepts using “dimensions” and “qualities.” These attributes are synonyms for "variables" but the word "variables" was the one given to the Storyboard participants as it was easily adopted into their explanatory animation context.

Animation is a classic form of multimedia. Debates around definitions for “Multimedia” range from inclusive definitions where text and diagrams in a traditional textbook qualify as multimedia (Mayer 2001, 2009) to a whole range of classification issues about hypertext and functionality (Hackbarth 1996, Dugan 1999, Kovalchick 2004). More relevant discussions for my context involve terms like “multiliteracies” and artefacts which are “multimodal.” “The term multiliteracies was introduced to educational researchers by the New London Group (1996).” (Jewitt 2008:245 original emphasis) The Storyboard project is firmly situated in the realm of multimodal practice but the word that deserves special attention is “animation” itself as it has practical and pedagogical implications.

Animation is usually defined as a succession of moving images. Burns & Parker (2003) have attempted to reclaim the essence of the moving image by using the Greek words for move and image with their "Kineikonic mode" (2003:59) as distinct from the many tangents of the cinematic tradition. A more inclusive term for educational purposes is “variant graphics” (Jacobs 2007) where various images are viewed in succession. This is a more accurate definition because films are also moving images. An important element of variant graphics is that there is also a constant image. Unlike a traditional lecture where an occasional diagram might be presented, the idea of a constant image implies that the screen is the desired focus for the duration of the presentation whether the images are moving or static.

To "animate" is to give life to something. Animation is normally defined as moving images. I prefer to use the term variant graphics. This is because films are also moving images so I wanted to find a term that is exclusive to animation. The reason for using the word variant or changing rather than moving is to create a definition which can include slide shows. In a slide show, there can be movement within a frame or a complete change from one frame to another. Variant covers both scenarios.

A practical application of the variant graphics definition is where keyframes (i.e. frames within an animation where the image actually changes) are sometimes far apart chronologically. Changes from one keyframe to the next might be subtle (i.e. movement) or drastic where a new image is introduced. The ePotential survey for Victorian school teachers defined animation as "The optical illusion of motion created by the consecutive display of images of static elements." (http://epotential.education.vic.gov.au) Once again, this definition implies that images must move rather than simply vary. Hubscher-Younger & Narayanan (2008) define animations as “dynamic representations” (2008:237) in contrast to static representation such as still images. Many of the animations created in the Storyboard project used images which were static for several seconds before moving or changing. The term “variant graphics” thus retains the functionality of the other definitions without limitation or contradiction.

There are six animation design guidelines which form the EAF. They are summarised in the following table:

These six variables are now discussed further. The resulting praxis has been informed by both educational research and cognitive science studies. The EAF is not descriptive but rather prescriptive as a method and rationale for creating explanatory animations.

Opinion is divided as to whether conceptual change is drastic or incremental. In the context of scientific thought, Kuhn (1970) advocated revolutionary change using specific examples but Toulman (1972) cited other examples of a more gradual or evolutionary nature. Conceptual consolidation in the Storyboard project lends itself to incremental change as the student's storyboards became cognitive models from the beginning of the project and not just on completion. The digital nature of the storyboards makes revisions easy and more importantly, reversible. Trial and error is often considered to be a primitive strategy but for these students it is a luxury of the digital environment as minor changes can literally be "undone" and more drastic changes disregarded by returning to earlier versions of the storyboard. The end of this process for this project is that the storyboard actually becomes the animation when the imagery is rendered (i.e. "save as" .png) unlike a conventional storyboard which is preparatory.

It became evident when the Storyboard trials began in 2010 that I had to articulate what might be considered a suitable topic for an explanatory animation. Choosing a suitable topic for an explanatory animation is more than just a starting point. It is the thread which holds the animation together as the author develops their understanding and negotiates tangents. The 8 students in the animation classes participated in initial discussions about the uses of animation. I presented all Grade 5 and 6 children the following rationale for the effectiveness and suitability of animation as a teaching mode as not all topics benefit from being the subject of an explanatory animation:

Taba (1962) suggested that concepts constitute higher levels of learning as concepts can be applicable in other contexts through generalisations. Her three categories of knowledge were facts, ideas and concepts (Taba 1962:211) Knowledge is too broad a category to be discussed as a uniform or accepted body of information. Various attempts have been made to classify and categorise knowledge. Without reopening philosophical debates about certainty, concepts may vary according to whether they are speculative, perceptual or products of human convention and invention.

“Format” in the Explanatory Animation Framework refers to whether the animations will be linear or interactive. For the purpose of having a clear logic flow, it is recommended that the animations are linear. At the heart of the Storyboard methodology is order and sequence. Walt Disney coined this term in the 1930's and it is the simplicity of the word and the inherent logic within it that prompted me to use this as my thesis title. Order and sequence are evident in every animation, regardless of technical sophistication. This use of the word is more functional in a design sense than a traditional storyboard which is shorter and more prescriptive. In this sense the way I construct a storyboard is more like the prototype Resnick refers to: "We never expect to get things right on the first try. We are constantly critiquing, adjusting, modifying, revising. The ability to develop rapid prototypes is critically important in this process. We find that storyboards are not enough; we want functioning prototypes." (Resnick 2007:5)

The following animation on the Treble Clef and the subsequent variation on it illustrates the importance of order. Around two years after completing the original animation I realised that the information had been presented in the same chronological order in which I had learnt it. The final piece of information I had learnt was about how the Treble Clef is also known as the G clef. My revised animation puts this fact near the beginning to help give the viewer an anchor to help comprehend the remaining information.

An interactive animation should only be constructed if this is deemed to be necessary to do justice to the topic. The following is an example of an interactive animation where the user can actually play with the different elements:

Duration guidelines are primarily for the benefit of the viewer of a completed explanatory animation. Cognitive capacity is limited and is traditionally demonstrated through limits on human memory by researchers such as Miller (1956) where the actual number of digits in a phone number most people can retain is said to be around seven. The process of memorisation involves "chunking" although the actual number will also vary depending on the task. Cognitive load theory (Chandler and Sweller 1991, Sweller 1999) also warns against giving students too much information or delivering information too quickly. This is particularly important when a student is viewing an animation without the ability to moderate the rate of delivery as our brains can only retain so much during the process of instruction.

Viewing explanatory animations can cause information overload unless the animations are kept relatively short in duration. "The onus should surely be on those who support inquiry-based instruction to explain how such a procedure circumvents the well-known limits of working memory when dealing with novel information." (Kirschner, Sweller & Clark 2006:77) The limits of working (short-term) memory are circumvented by the Storyboard methodology because children are not receivers of information but authors of their own animations. As they are reflecting on and representing their ideas by creating images, the demands on their working memories are not excessive. The tangibility of their ideas develops outside their short-term memories.

Students work on their imagery and voice-over text concurrently but these elements must be synchronised in the final animation. This has been a requirement for multimedia resources for many years as specified in various State Educational Departments such as California since 1998 (Vaille 1998). Mayer refers to this as the “Temporal Contiguity principle.” (Mayer 2001, 2009)

Voice recording is a component of all of the Storyboard animations as the children explain their topic. There are three basic methods of synchronizing audio and video i.e. pre-synched, post-synched and interactive. When planning an animation, it is best to decide in advance which type of voice synchronization will be used so you can proceed accordingly. Each process has its own advantages and challenges.

All videos in the Storyboard project are assembled by the children completing their imagery in PowerPoint and then "saving as" an image format such as jpg. PowerPoint numbers each slide sequentially and then these slides, which are now animation frames, are then imported into video editing software. These frames are then combined and rendered into one single video file.

This process works differently depending on the software being used. Some technical comment is necessary here to ensure that the animations end up looking the way they were first conceived and constructed in PowerPoint:

My preferred editing package is Adobe Premiere Pro because I'm most familiar with that. I like being able to alter the speed (and thus duration) of small sections of video to achieve accurate synchronisation with the voice-over.
I have, however, found that I need to use Microsoft Movie Maker first to ensure that my frames aren't cropped. Premiere Pro and Movie Maker handle the incoming frames generated from PowerPoint differently.
The PowerPoint frames are 960 pixels wide and 720 pixels high. As this size is bigger than the largest template available in Premiere Pro, each frame is automated cropped. Movie Maker resizes the frames which is much better as no visual information is lost.
The two step process then involves opening the resized video file (rendered by Movie Maker) into Premiere Pro to do the synchronisation and all other editing.

A final word on video and audio is that people are more forgiving of video than audio. Grungy imagery can be an aesthetic choice but bad audio is harder to tolerate.

This may appear to be the common sense and obvious guideline. Animation can become quite a novelty for a new author so they need to be reminded that any unnecessary movement is detrimental to the viewer’s ability to focus on the learning content. Mayer (2001, 2009) refers to this as the “coherence principle.”

The imagery and narrative of an explanatory animation are separate elements until the final process of synchronisation is completed and the animation is rendered as a video file. The component parts then become a cohesive whole. Gestalt theory would suggest that this whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Balance in this respect simply means that if any element draws excessive attention to itself then the inherent balance is disturbed which creates a distraction through imbalance. Minsky (1985) is critical of the way people use the term "Gestalt". "We say "gestalt" when things combine to act in ways we can't explain..." (1985:27). He argues that subjective and objective perspectives can account for Gestalt theory. An example he gives for subjective is: "What makes a drawing more than just its separate lines?" and an example for objective is "Why is a chain more than its various links?" He describes Gestalt theory as an inadequate explanation but fails to realise that it is merely a description. Minsky finds answers to complex systems like the human mind by breaking processes (agencies) downs into component parts (agents). As stated in the Animating Best Practice thesis (Jacobs 2007): "Gestalt theory arose in the 1890s as a reaction against atomism. Context was emphasised as the framework for perception. Christian von Ehrenfels used music to illustrate context. He stated that a melody can be readily recognised when transposed to a different key, even if the new key doesn't contain the same notes."

A similar notion to Gestalt theory is Punctualisation from Actor-network theory. This basically means that the people consider the individual parts of a system to be a cohesive whole. A car is a good example as people don't normally think about all of the different parts but rather consider a car as a single entity. A broken down car would then draw attention to the individual parts. A well conceived animation should also be viewed as a cohesive whole in the same way that a good film does not distract the viewer to the process of film making by using excessive scene transitions or camera panning, zooming etc.

From an authoring perspective, the two main variables are the audio and video components. Paivio describes human perception as involving both of these mediums in his “dual coding theory” (Paivio 1986). Audio and video are continuous in the animations that the children produce in the Storyboard project so the “variable” in this guideline relates to the subject matter. Isolating the relevant contrast is a basic pedagogical consideration for effective teaching. To use a musical example, I used to explain the difference between the rhythmic feels of straight and swing by playing contrasting musical pieces to my students. Now I play them the same notes and only change the rhythm so that this variable is the only point of difference.

The emphasis on reducing variables in the children's animation could also be likened to schematic diagrams where only essential information is provided.

Simplicity is required for both the level of detail for the subject matter and the representations used to depict the key elements. “The necessity for representing spatial relations, with its attendant complexities of how much should be made explicit and how much can safely be left implicit, raises problems that are typical of and rather special to vision.” (Marr 1982:42) Marr is also helpful here with his descriptions of 2 ½ dimensions where surfaces are rendered to give them depth perception whilst still in 2 dimensions.

Bonini's paradox also has relevance here (i.e. a paradox where the more complete the model, the more difficult it is to comprehend). The strength of any model is that it should simplify the subject matter by leaving out non-essential information. The implication of Bonini's paradox for the Storyboard project is that simplicity will render the animations more effectively than excessive detail.

The Explanatory Animation Framework has some resonance with other complementary theories of cognitive architecture for multimedia. "Three theories have primarily been evaluated in traditional laboratory studies: Paivio’s dual coding theory, Baddeley’s working memory model, and Engelkamp’s multimodal theory. The other three theories have been evaluated in instructional contexts: Sweller’s cognitive load theory, Mayer’s multimedia learning theory, and Nathan’s ANIMATE theory. The six theories are not rivals but focus on different aspects of multimedia learning." (Reed 2006:87)

The closest match with EAF is Mayer's Multimedia theory (2001) which originally included 7 principles to assist students learning from multimedia presentations. These seven principles were expanded to twelve principles in his 2nd edition in 2009 but the key points came from the original (2001) theory:

The main difference between the two theories is that the EAF consists of guidelines for students making their own animations. Certain variables such as cognitive load are still design considerations but the conceptual consolidation of the author is the primary objective of the explanatory animation creation task.

It would be easy to go into a long list of technical specifications but they are constantly changing and ultimately irrelevant. Working with digital media has its own challenges but the benefits are so obvious that they easily be taken for granted. Three such benefits are:

(Table 2: Explanatory Animation Framework - snap shot)
Variables	Guidelines
1. Topic selection	Choose a concept
2. Format	Linear rather than interactive
3. Duration	Try to keep the duration below 60 seconds
4. Construction	Synchronise video to the audio
5. Focus	a/ Avoid distractions
	b/ Maintain balance
	c/ Minimise variables
6. Scope and sequence	Keep it simple

(Table 3: Explanatory Animation Framework - details)
	Variables	Guidelines	Theoretical basis
1	Topic selection	Choose a concept or process	Concept based curriculum. (Erickson 2002).
2	Format	Linear or interactive?	"Teaching episode" or "learning environment" from Animating Best Practice. (Jacobs 2007)
3	Duration	Keep the animation as short as possible (i.e. less than 60 seconds) but don't rush the animation. Other tangents which need to be explored can be the subject of additional animations.	Cognitive capacity (Miller 1956, Simon 1974). Working memory theory (Baddeley 1986, 1992, 1999). Cognitive load theory (Chandler and Sweller 1991, Sweller 1999).
4	Construction	1. Start with the voice over.	A linear presentation forces the author to use the most appropriate sequence and order of information.
4	Construction	2. Synchronise images to the audio. People expect imagery and audio to be in sync. Anything other than this is a distraction.	Temporal contiguity principle (Mayer 2001).
5	Focus	1. Avoid distractions such as unnecessary movement as distractions will draw attention away from the central message.	Coherence principle. (Mayer 2001).
		2. Maintain balance.	Gestalt principle. Punctualisation (Actor network theory).
		3. Minimise variables.	Teachers often use contrast to emphasise the differences between two or more examples. I used to teach the difference between the musical rhythms of straight and swing by contrasting different pieces of music which exemplified these rhythms. I now use the exact same music where only the rhythm is different which makes the actual difference much easier to observe.
6	Scope and sequence	Keep it simple (i.e. don't depict unnecessary details).	Bonini's paradox
6	Scope and sequence	If a topic is too complicated for a full explanation, use a partial rather than simplistic explanation.	A partial explanation can be extended with additional information but a simplistic explanation must be replaced to obtain further learning. A simplistic explanation is therefore unsuitable as a permanent structure for conceptual development. There is a difference between a fixed element and choosing to omit it altogether.

(Table 4: Suitability of a topic for an explanatory animation)
Unnecessary	Appropriate	Ideal
Facts e.g. What is the capital of Texas?	Procedures e.g. Pasta recipe	Concepts e.g. Music key signatures

(Table 5: Types of concepts)
Full explanation of convention or invention	Partial explanation through active observation	Speculation
Musical key signatures (convention) Internal combustion engine (invention)	Biology (cancer research) Psychology (human behaviour)	Black holes Life on other planets

(Table 6: Mayer's Multimedia theory)
1	Multimedia principle	Students learn better from words and pictures than from words alone.
2	Spatial contiguity principle	Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented near, rather than far from, each other on the page or screen.
3	Temporal contiguity principle	Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented simultaneously rather than successively.
4	Coherence principle	Students learn better when extraneous words, pictures, and sounds are excluded.
5	Modality principle	Students learn better from animation and narration than from animation and on-screen text.
6	Redundancy principle	Students learn better from animation and narration than from animation, narration, and on-screen text.
7	Individual differences principle	Design effects are stronger for low-knowledge learners than for high-knowledge learners and for high-spatial learners than for low-spatial learners.