What are the latest trends and tools for creating and delivering animated learning content?

1 Benefits of animation

Animation can enhance learning and development by attracting attention, illustrating complex concepts, providing feedback, and stimulating emotions. Animation can also help learners retain information longer and transfer it to different contexts. For example, animation can show how a machine works, how a process flows, or how a scenario unfolds. Animation can also create scenarios that are difficult or impossible to replicate in real life, such as emergencies, disasters, or historical events.

2 Drawbacks of animation

Animation can also increase cognitive load, especially if it is too fast, too complex, or too irrelevant. Animation can overload the working memory of learners, which is limited in capacity and duration. Animation can also distract learners from the essential information, or interfere with their prior knowledge and mental models. For example, animation can confuse learners if it contradicts their expectations, if it contains unnecessary details, or if it does not match the narration or text.

3 Principles of animation

In order to avoid the negative effects of animation on cognitive load, it is important to adhere to certain principles of animation design and delivery. These principles are based on cognitive load theory, which states that learning is more effective when the working memory is not overwhelmed by extraneous, intrinsic, or germane cognitive load. Such principles include aligning animation with learning objectives and outcomes, simplifying animation and removing irrelevant elements, synchronizing animation with narration or text, segmenting animation into manageable chunks, providing cues and guidance for animation, allowing learners to control the pace and direction of animation, and adapting animation to the level and needs of learners.

4 Trends of animation

Animation is constantly advancing thanks to new technologies and innovations that have been developed. Interactive animation allows learners to manipulate, explore, and respond to animation. Immersive animation creates a realistic and engaging environment for learners, such as virtual reality or augmented reality. Personalized animation tailors the animation to the preferences, goals, and feedback of learners. Gamified animation incorporates elements of game design, such as rewards, challenges, and competition, to motivate and engage learners. Social animation encourages collaboration and communication among learners through chatbots, avatars, or peer feedback.

5 Tools of animation

Animation can be created and delivered using a variety of tools and platforms, depending on the budget, time, and skills of developers and instructors. PowerPoint is a widely used and accessible tool for creating basic animations and transitions, while Adobe Animate is a professional tool for creating rich and complex animations and interactive content. Vyond is an online platform for creating animated videos and characters with templates and drag-and-drop features. Lectora is an authoring tool for creating interactive and responsive e-learning courses with animation and media. Articulate Storyline is another authoring tool that enables users to create immersive and gamified e-learning courses with animation and interactivity.