Animation significantly improves the quality of online education. Lottie animations can include visual effects, dynamic and interactive elements, motion graphics, among others.
However, to effectively use animation in e-learning, you must be familiar with the foundational concepts and how to implement them to achieve your objectives.
In this article, you’ll learn how to use animations in online courses. But first:
Why use animations in e-learning?
Animations provide students with a visually stimulating experience that captures their attention. With the ability to depict dynamic processes, abstract concepts, and intricate relationships, animations also offer a unique way to present complex topics that may otherwise be challenging to understand.
Here is an example from a course that teaches students how to create rich and sustainable ecosystems. The used animations make complex permaculture ideas easy to consume.
In addition, animations can be customized to suit various learning preferences, ensuring they are accessible and captivating for a wide range of students. You can, for example, use animated case studies or virtual simulations. Animations like these can bring content to life and make it consumable for learners of all ages and backgrounds.
Check out the animated case study below. It discusses how the company assisted a customer in developing a new product and reaching a wider audience. This animated version adds a touch of fun and makes it easy to understand, especially for non-specialists.
Furthermore, animations can cater to learners with different abilities or disabilities. Learners with motor disabilities, for example, can navigate and interact with the content at their own pace.
However, you will need online course platforms that have accessibility features like closed captioning and screen reader compatibility. These elements are critical for learners with hearing or vision impairments because they enable them to fully interact with the animated material. Additionally, the platforms should provide options for customized settings, such as adjustable playback speed or font size, to accommodate learners with cognitive or learning disabilities.
Animations also let you create interactive elements, such as drag-and-drop activities or quizzes, providing learners with a hands-on learning experience. These interactive elements empower learners to apply their knowledge and skills in a practical setting, enhancing their understanding and retention of the material.
Additionally, you can use animations to provide immediate feedback to learners. This helps them determine their acquired level of understanding so they can make adjustments. For example, if a learner selects the wrong answer in a quiz, an animation can highlight the correct answer while fading out the incorrect one. This immediate visual feedback, made possible through the interactive content helps reinforce the correct information and allows learners to quickly understand their mistakes.
When to use animation for e-learning?
Animation can be a valuable tool in e-learning. However, knowing when to use it is crucial. Various types of animation can significantly improve education, promoting immersive and interactive learning environments.
For instance, starting your presentation with animation can immediately grab your audience's attention. Additionally, directional animation can guide viewers' focus if they become distracted halfway through. Incorporate motion so you can redirect the learner's focus to a specific point of the screen.
Transitional animation, on the other hand, can help navigate the learner through the changes in content throughout a presentation. Seamless transitions between slides make it easy for viewers to process content changes without losing focus. You can use transitional animation when discussing step-by-step processes, for example.
Finally, animations can emphasize crucial points and details at the end of your presentation. They help guarantee that your students grasp the primary takeaways from the course.
As a final tip, bear in mind that the decision of how much animation to use in a presentation should be based on the needs and preferences of the target audience. Excessive use of animation in a presentation intended for a serious audience, for instance, may backfire.
How to use animation in e-learning?
When incorporating animation, it is crucial to follow certain guidelines to ensure its effectiveness. Follow these tips when using animation for e-learning.
1. Gather the necessary information
The first step in using animation in e-learning is gathering all the necessary information. That includes identifying the key concepts or topics that need to be animated.
For this, you must understand your intended learning outcomes and how animation can enhance the learning experience. Specific animation techniques can be used for different aspects of your e-learning project. For example, motion animations, such as moving objects or characters, can be useful in demonstrating how something works or illustrating a process. On the other hand, visual effects like fading or zooming can help draw attention to significant information or highlight key points.
You should also consider your target audience and adapt the animation style to suit their needs and preferences. You can send them surveys to ask them directly before you decide on the types and degree of animation to use.
After gathering all the information, create a storyboard that can help ensure a smooth and logical animation flow. You’ll need to share the storyboard with your team for effective collaboration.
2. Leverage storytelling
Using animation for e-learning alone is insufficient. Your learning material still won’t be effective if your animated concepts don’t make sense when viewed as a whole. Storytelling plays a vital role in crafting captivating and impactful e-learning animations. In addition, the storytelling method helps learners apply their knowledge to practical situations.
How do you incorporate storytelling into your animated presentations to ensure an elevated online learning experience? Just create a standard storytelling outline used when crafting case studies, writing blog content, and so on. Design animated characters and show the conflict or problem they’re facing. Then show the path to a solution.
For example, in a design course, the narrative arc could center around the journey of a struggling graphic designer tasked with creating a high-profile logo for a major company. So, you could have an animated character at a loss about how to start their design journey. This should be a character your learners can relate with. So, if your learners are young professionals, make your character a young professional as well.
Then show the character evolving and becoming empowered as a designer as they gain more knowledge and experience through your online course. Explain how the character manages to overcome design challenges step-by-step.
This narrative approach can make the content more enjoyable to learn. It also helps the learner understand how the concepts and skills can be applied in real-life scenarios.
3. Leverage voiceover recordings and other sounds
Voiceover recordings are essential for bringing e-learning animation to life. They offer an interactive and captivating method of presenting information to learners, improving their comprehension and memory of the material. In addition, voiceovers bring a human element to the learning experience, making it easier for learners to relate to and enjoy.
The voiceover sets the tone and delivers the information to the learners, so it is crucial to get it right.
For that reason, select a professional voiceover artist with e-learning experience. Their voice should be captivating, concise, and comprehensible. You should also provide them with a detailed animation script that includes pauses, emphasis, and other specific instructions. This will ensure that the voiceover artist understands the desired tone and pacing of the content.
The video below is an excellent example of a professional voiceover recording.
If you plan to use your own voice, invest in quality recording equipment and ensure a quiet environment for a clear and professional voiceover.
But don’t just rely on voiceover recordings for your audio.
Incorporate music and other sounds into your animated presentation as well. It’s important to choose music that matches the tone and content of the project. Besides, the use of appropriate background music adds an emotional element to the animation, captivates learners' attention, and helps create a conducive learning environment. Your sound effects should also accurately represent the actions or objects being shown.
4. Incorporate visuals
The visuals you incorporate into your e-learning presentation don’t have to becompleted; they just have to be relevant to your audio.
For example, if the presentation aims to explain what photosynthesis is, naturally, your audio should provide a detailed explanation of each step. So, your animation could visually demonstrate how each of these steps happens. This combination of the visual and auditory allows learners to fully engage with the material. The synchronization also ensures learners can make connections between what they see and what they hear, enhancing their comprehension and retention.
When incorporating animated visuals, make sure, too, that they’re simple and straightforward. Visuals can make even the most complex ideas easy to understand. But for this to happen, the visuals need to be simple as well.
For example, Aviassist's drone training course teaches highly technical processes via narrative. To make it easier for learners to grasp the mechanical concepts, Aviassist uses simple animations of drones and rulers. This can make the learning process less overwhelming and more enjoyable for learners.
You can use your storyboard to plan out the timing of each visual element and corresponding audio cue, and use animation software to fine-tune the synchronization.
Conclusion
When used correctly, animation can be a strong element in e-learning courses. Instructors may improve student engagement and understanding by using the best practices outlined in this article.
Ensure you gather all relevant information needed for your e-learning presentation. Employ storytelling techniques to make the content more relatable and engaging. Also, leverage voiceover recordings and other sounds to enhance the overall quality and clarity of the narration. Then, incorporate visuals that align with the audio to ensure students can easily follow along and comprehend the information being presented.
If you are looking to find animations, you can discover a wide range of Lottie animations in the LottieFiles library that you can incorporate into your project. If you are in need of a program to create your animated e-learning videos or presentations, check out how you can add Lottie animations to Camtasia or Canva to create your project.
Now start enhancing student engagement and understanding of your e-learning courses. Good luck!
