Interactive multimedia animation with Macromedia Flash in Descriptive Geometry teaching

Computers & Education 49 (2007) 615–639 www.elsevier.com/locate/compedu

Interactive multimedia animation with Macromedia Flash in Descriptive Geometry teaching Ramoń Rubio Garcıá *, Javier Sua´rez Quiro´s, Ramoń Gallego Santos, Santiago Martıń Gonza´lez, Samuel Morań Fernanz Department of Construccioń e Ingenierıá de Fabricacioń, A´rea de Expresioń Gra´fica en la Ingenierıá, Universidad of Oviedo, Asturias, Spain Received 3 August 2005; received in revised form 4 October 2005; accepted 7 November 2005

Abstract The growing concern of teachers to improve their theoretical classes together with the revolution in content and methods brought about by the New Information Technologies combine to offer students a new more attractive, efficient and agreeable form of learning. The case of Descriptive Geometry (DG) is particularly special, since the main purpose of this subject is not only to provide students with theoretical knowledge of Geometry and Drawing, but also to enhance their spatial perception, one of the seven forms of intelligence and the most essential and vital one in the training of any engineer, but one which has not been sufficiently fomented in pre-university or university education during recent years. With these premises, and with the aim of accelerating the studentsÕ learning process, animations were developed that permit the interactive observation by the students of the most important topics of Descriptive Geometry. The software used in the development of the animations is Macromedia Flash; a tool that allows very small vectorial graphics files to be created, thus facilitating their electronic transmission to any user connected to the network. Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Innovative learning; Macromedia Flash; Multimedia animation; Descriptive Geometry

*

Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 984 29 75 87. E-mail address: [email protected] (R.R. Garcıá).

0360-1315/$ - see front matter Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2005.11.005

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R.R. Garcıá et al. / Computers & Education 49 (2007) 615–639

1. Introduction Descriptive Geometry (DG) is the branch of Geometry that studies the representation of threedimensional objects on a plane, using systems based on the concept of projecting a point on a plane in order to reduce the three spatial dimensions to the two dimensions of the plane. At present, the basic content of DG is taught in the last years of pre-university education and in practically all branches of Engineering; it is of vital importance in Design, Mechanical and Civil Engineering. DG teaching methodology has developed greatly in recent years thanks to the technological revolution brought about by the introduction of new multimedia resources into the classrooms where theory is taught. This paper aims to demonstrate the impact on DG teaching produced by the use of animations. The main body of the paper is divided into three sections: the first section presents a series of background concepts, touching on the way DG subjects are taught, what is taught and what should be taught. The next section considers the contribution of new technologies to education and the potential role of multimedia animations. Although computers are already used as a tool for teaching theory in most educational centres, teachers have not correctly analysed the content that needs to be fed into the computer and simply project the same content that was previously studied on paper. The problem of correctly designing educational content for any multimedia resource is the order of the day, as we shall see in Section 2. To mitigate this difficulty, the animations will be created using the Flash application, which facilitates the creation of attractive and instructive animations. The advantages and disadvantages of this Macromedia software will also be analysed from a technical and educational point of view. Section 3 compares the traditional teaching method with a Flash animation created to teach the concept of folding in DG. Finally, Section 4 analyses, from a theoretical and practical point of view, the results of an experiment in which a group of 50 students used animations related to geometrical concepts. The conclusions drawn from the analysis made in this document aim, first, to encourage teachers to use new technologies in the creation of animations, as the success of this methodology is guaranteed and second, to support and complete the bases for the construction of multimedia materials.

2. Background 2.1. Traditional teaching–learning of Descriptive Geometry How is DG learnt? Traditionally, like most technical subjects, DG and Drawing generally are learnt through practice. Our teachers and our teachersÕ teachers acquired their knowledge of DG by doing numerous exercises on each of the subjects using traditional drawing tools (pencil, set square, triangle, ruler, compass. . . and paper). The appearance of computers in recent years started a very interesting debate in forums, congresses and corridors on the use of computers versus pencils for the study of Descriptive Geometry (Rubio, 2003). The evolution that computer systems have brought to the technical branches of Drawing: speed, realism, storage capacity, accuracy and precision, is beyond all question. And


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applications, such as CAD, are improving daily and are even being adapted for educational use, to facilitate the study of Geometry and Visualization Systems. But in contrast to this, some people remain unshakeable in the belief that computers will never substitute pencils, since they do not have their versatility nor their availability and must only be used as a tool or means for facilitating a process, but never as an end, in Technical Drawing (Rubio, 2003). How is Descriptive Geometry taught? The methodology used by most teachers to impart their knowledge is the traditional lecture. In their lectures, teachers use the blackboard to develop the theory and analyse the steps to be followed to solve the exercises (Fig. 1). Many of them also use overhead projectors and slides, and a few use laptop computers in their theory classes (Rubio, Sua´rez, Gallego, & Cueto, 2003a; Rubio, Sua´rez, Gallego, & Cueto, 2003b). In a study carried out by our research team with a group of 50 students with two yearsÕ experience in drawing subjects, we were able to observe their opinions on these means of communication as a way of acquiring information and knowledge. Among many other questions, we were interested in learning which means of communication were preferred by the students. Possible answers included: the blackboard, overhead projector or laptop computer + projector. We were also interested in the studentsÕ description of the advantages and disadvantages of each of them.

Fig. 1. Intersection of two prisms.

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The results reveal that the combination of laptop computer and projector is the preferred means for classroom teaching, followed by the blackboard, with slides coming last (Fig. 2). A large number of students prefer the combination of blackboard and laptop computer or even the combination of the three options. The different and diverse reasons put forward by students when assessing the teaching options can be grouped in series of three (Table 1). Reading between the lines two basic ideas stand out: They demand a logical and clear structure of the subject to be explained. The weak point of presentations made using a laptop, as regards the explanations given by the teacher, is the studentsÕ lack of understanding of the methodical construction of the exercises, i.e., although they can see the exercise done step-by-step in multimedia presentations, they consider that it is too quick for them to be able to take notes at the same time or to draw the same exercise. On the contrary,

Fig. 2. StudentÕs preferences related with educational media.

Table 1 Points for and against the various means of communication For

Against

Laptop computer

Visibility Dynamism Animations

Methodology Correction Conditions

Blackboard

Methodology Clarifications Freedom

Vague Slow Time

Slides

Clarity Speed Notes

Difficulty Method Boring


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with blackboard-based explanations they do find this step-by-step construction and this, together with the freedom that this method affords the teacher to solve any spontaneous doubt or to make timely clarifications, and his ability to improvise, are the strong points of the traditional methodology using chalk, blackboard and eraser. However, and although it may seem contradictory, most students consider that each teacher tracing his drawings on the blackboard takes up an excessive amount of teaching time, since making a complex drawing on the blackboard can consume a large part of the time that a teacher dedicates to his class: Furthermore, the lack of practice in drawing on vertical planes means that the results are not of a very high quality, leading to errors in the studentsÕ notes. They are pleasantly surprised by the ease of use and dynamism provided by laptop computers, since they had never before seen animations created by multimedia programmes in their theory classes, nor had they discovered the degree of dynamism and the clarity with which any content can be presented using a projection system. Presentations with slides have the same disadvantages as the laptop computer while lacking its dynamism and animations. After analysing the most common technical means currently used in teaching, we asked the following question: Is drawing a knowledge that needs to be transmitted? All subjects that a student has to study during his/her course are related, to a greater or lesser degree, with one of the intelligences in our brain (linguistics, logical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, inter-personal and intra-personal) (Gonza´lez-Pienda, 2003). Specifically, it has been shown that students with a higher capacity for spatial perception achieve better results in subjects related to Technical Drawing (Rubio, 2003), which highlights the importance of this innate characteristic in the assessment of Drawing. However, it has also been demonstrated that students who practice exercises to develop their spatial perception (even one who listens to MozartÕs sonatas) may increase their visual capacity and get to understand visualization exercises that they could not understand before. How should Descriptive Geometry be taught? We should check whether the current DG teaching–learning technologies are the most adequate for the students. For this purpose it is first necessary to establish a final and specific learning target, one that is well defined and possible for the students to achieve, in order to subsequently analyse which technical means will help us to attain the target in the shortest possible time and with the highest degree or level of understanding and retention. The target usually set for the students is the solution of exercises involving the intersection of simple three-dimensional bodies (cylinders, prisms, tetrahedrons, spheres, pyramids) with a certain level of visual complexity. This type of target is very common in DG teaching; as can be seen from the way the subject matter is structured in the DG teaching books and DG subjects at university. The teaching means used to achieve this target are based on solving exercises of gradually increasing difficulty, the conceptual basis of which is a pyramid-type structure, where each new concept is based on another one previously studied, and implies an ever greater mental and especially visual effort. In other words, these methods are designed to educate, increase and develop the individualÕs spatial perception (Mohler, 2001; Pu¨tz, 2001). Spatial perception is one of the seven types of intelligence included in the mechanical-spatial skills of the students, and is of fundamental importance for mastering the three dimensions, volume and space–time (Gonza´lez-Pienda, 2003). Therefore, this is the most important

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kind of intelligence for an engineer (Mohler, 2001); in spite of its importance it is only developed in subjects that involve working with the three spatial dimensions, as in the case of DG. Therefore, it may be that the aim of the subjects related to DG should be to foment this type of intelligence. In order to achieve this and enhance the studentsÕ spatial perception, it is necessary to use not only the traditional methods of systematic repetition of well-programmed and structured exercises, but also the new technologies. The development of the studentsÕ mental capacity will greatly facilitate the solution of spatial problems quite different from those set in the classroom, and ones that the future engineer will encounter during his working life. 2.2. New technologies in descriptive geometry teaching The University sector has played a very important role in the development of new technologies; however, it does not teach what it discovers with the same speed. If, for example, we consider the use of computers during the last decades (Lee, Winkler, & Smith, 1996; Rickman, Todd, Verbick, & Miller, 2003), we can observe that In the 70s: The computer enters the University. Universities have common rooms with workstations that allow communication with other Universities. It is used as a means of communication and programming. In the 80s: The computer enters practical classes. The Departments have the first classrooms where students may practise. The computer forms part of the studentsÕ weekly work. In the 90s–present time: The computer enters the classroom. This is the first time that computers are taken into the classrooms where theory is taught. The reduction in the price of laptop computers is partly responsible for their presence in the classroom. Since that time, many teachers have become aware of the usefulness that these new technologies may have for their lectures (Balci, Gilley, Adams, Tunar, & Barnette, 2001) apart from their traditional use in the practical classes. But trying to be on the cutting edge of technological knowledge has a high price for the teaching staff, as they have to dedicate many hours to personal training in new technologies. In this regard, teacher training is an essential aspect of the new education for the XXI century, as a command of computer technology is ever more indispensable not only as regards its content, but also its use as a teaching tool. This requires knowledge of both the available hardware and the use of the latest software. DG does not escape from the enormous progress made in information technologies (Lieu, 1999; Toledo & Martinez, 2000) and many authors highlight the importance of multimedia software in the development of spatial perception, and even warn of the educational danger that the failure to use it may cause. To quote Bertoline (Bertoline, Burton, & Wiley, 1992): ‘‘If students are not given an opportunity to develop and enhance their spatial abilities through educational experiences using the latest technologies such as interactive multimedia or webbased resources, they may abandon their quest to become engineers or fail to achieve their full potential as practicing engineers.’’


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It is for this reason that teachers of engineering and not only those teaching DG should try to use web technologies, test applications or multimedia animations in order to verify their validity, capacity and efficacy: they should also create and develop educational materials as soon as possible (Medeiros, 1998; Rubio et al., 2003a, 2003b; Syrjakow, Berbux, & Szczerbicka, 2000). A great number of experiments have been made in recent years aimed at improving training in the use of visualization systems, and specifically in DG. Among these experiments the following ´ lvarez, 2003): were carried out in Spain (A Innovations in the teaching of graphic expression in technical education through interactive computer-aided drafting (Politechnical University of Madrid). This is basically a tool for drawing and self-assessment. Initially, the intention was to carry out the experiment on a teaching unit of Geometrical Drawing, but the success achieved encouraged the authors to extend its application to the various Visualization Systems and Technical Drawing. Dihedral multimedia: bases of the system (University of Cantabria). It comprises two independent programmes that present the information using field animations and graphics. Self-assessment system for DG (Politechnical University of Madrid). This is an interactive computer application based on a teach-yourself DG programme developed by ETSIIM. AIMEC-DT: (University of Oviedo). The initials stand for integrated application in a multimedia environment for computer-aided teaching of Technical Drawing. This application covers four basic areas of Technical Drawing: DG, Geometry, Views and CAD. These, together with innumerable international experiments (Agogino & His, 1994; Brakhage, 1990; Braviano, 1998; Lipmann & Lieu, 1994; Rais-Rohani & Young, 1996), warn of the danger of using new educational materials without a prior analysis of the content and software; i.e., they could be considered just as a new blackboard accessible to many people, unless consideration is given to the new possibilities they offer or to the fact that methodologies valid in a environment where the students are physically present may not be valid in a virtual or remote environment. Orozco (Orozco, 2000) warns us about the risk: ‘‘However it is not the CIT that modify the teaching and learning processes but the way that these are used and the methodologies with which they are employed. Therefore, an effort must be made to promote new methods with the CIT, new forms of communication and teaching and to avoid the reproduction of old methods (explanation, notes, study, and examination).’’ In general, when faced with new technologies we all tend to think within the framework of reference with which we are most familiar. In other words, the technology is incorporated without prior and critical thought and magical changes are expected from its mere existence. It is, indeed, true that the use of new technologies plays a psychological role (Sanz, 1999): when people learn through experiencing different situations, they key up all their senses seeking to understand what happened (Medeiros, 1998). It is precisely this search that activates their attention in a way not achieved in more predictable situations. University teaching (Rubio et al., 2003a, 2003b) should seek new tactics that involve a quest, suspense. New situations have to be created in the classroom to surprise the students; they must be always alert, with all their five senses eagerly focused on what may happen in the classroom.

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2.3. Animations in education The results of the survey mentioned previously carried out by students on their preferences when receiving classes of theory, repeatedly show their liking for the many animations displayed through the laptop computer to explain some theoretical concepts connected with Technical Drawing. In contrast to the static images and long texts that make up the most common technical books on DG, multimedia in the classroom appears as a combination of text, animated graphics, sound and video in a computer controlled by the teacher. The success of this combination (Lieu, 1999; Mohler, 2001) is shown by the fact that the students have to use two basic senses for the reception of information: sight and hearing, and, more especially, interactivity. It has been demonstrated that the peopleÕs retention capacity depends on the senses used to grasp the information, thus, we are able to remember 15% of what we hear and 25% of what we see; but we are able to retain 60% of the information if we interact with it (Wolfgram, 1994, chaps. 5–8). Academic staff teaching any type of content, whether technical, games, economic, scientific or musical should always keep this experiment in mind. Interaction between an individual and the environment activates areas of the personÕs brain related with experience; this involves storing the experiences in the long-term memory areas. In 1885, Hermann Ebbinghaus showed how people forget what they memorize according to a law of forgetting. This law is graphically represented by a curve (%remembered–time). He was able to demonstrate that those people who learnt information by dedicating to this purpose only just the time needed to more or less comprehend it, were on the following day able to remember almost as much as other people who after studying the information, went over it again and again. It can be seen (Fig. 3) how, depending on the meaning or the way in which information is perceived, a different percentage is remembered, which decreases with time at a similar speed. The combination of senses produces a sum of the percentages retained (Rubio, 2003). However, the same law that irremediably makes us forget content, also holds a pleasant surprise: When the content is revised and a command of the subject is achieved for a second time, some parts that have already been learnt will be lost again, but the gradient of the forgetting

Fig. 3. Ebbinghaus forgetting curves.


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Fig. 4. Ebbinghaus forgetting curve with reinforced memorization.

curve it is not as high this time as it was after the first study (Fig. 4). The evolution of this curve has been proven in numerous experiments, some of them relating to Technical Drawing (Rubio, 2003). The evolution shown in the Ebbinghaus curve with overlearning is intimately related with the role of animations in teaching. We should remember that students control the animations of this type and, if they have not understood certain parts, they can repeat them as many times as they like without any loss of quality of the information transmitted. In contrast, when the notes taken during classes are checked, many of them turn out to be incomplete or contain concepts or steps in the development of the solution that are incorrectly stated. Hence the knowledge feedback does not attain 100%, as it does with animations.

3. E-learning with Macromedia Flash 3.1. Introduction Today, Internet has established a new model for providing information and services to all users throughout the world. Thus, the decision to use web technologies such as HTML, XML, Java and Flash is obvious (Syrjakow et al., 2000). Flash is a commercial application of Macromedia, the main purpose of which is to generate vectorial animations for the web. Many companies have web page that include animations created with Macromedia Flash, due mainly to the two most important characteristics of this application: creation of vectorial graphics and interaction of the user with the animations. The introduction of these new technologies is also intended to fill the gap caused by the lack of equipment in many universities; in this way, processes that would otherwise require very expensive equipment can be transmitted to the students in virtual form. Vectorial graphics are easy to use: they store the information in the computers as a series of data (in text format) relating to geometrical properties, therefore the files are smaller in size than in the case of animations generated by overlaid bit-map images, as the latter are stored in the form

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of pixel data, without considering the entities or geometrical shapes (just as in the case of traditional films). We should add that Flash allows the user to interact with the animation being displayed, thus the user can control the visualization of the film, take decisions, write, press buttons, move, drag, etc. The contribution made by Flash is clear: animation + interactivity, and we should remember that interactivity is the greatest advantage that multimedia contributes to teaching (Lieu, 1999). It is only necessary to select the content correctly and insert them properly in the programme. In most cases, Flash animations have become teaching aids (Ballanko & Collins, 2002) that are now common in many courses and universities and, notwithstanding the disadvantages that we will analyse later, this represents a notable advance in teaching innovation achieved in recent years. The latest version of Flash, MX 2004, improves productivity even more, as it can be used to construct highly interactive and high-quality materials that work perfectly with wide and narrow band-widths, regardless of the resolution of the monitors (Shank, 2003). It also facilitates the transmission of video in the animations, thanks to a new video format specific to Macromedia. 3.2. Design of content New technologies in teaching have brought new doubts that arise when these technologies are to be correctly used for teaching. Even though the task of creating a Web page, an interactive image, or a series of links to interesting resources, is today within anyoneÕs reach, there is a series of criteria that have to be taken into account in order to create good teaching materials (Lowe, 2001). The design of efficient educational animations is a challenge, because the information involved in the animations is complex and there are not yet many studies on student learning through animations. Bardzell (2004) has developed a number of characteristics that good teaching contents should comply with:

Learning is social. The learning environment interface should meet standards for usability and accessibility. Learning outcomes should be diverse and well defined. Learning content should be contained in high-quality, modular chunks. Online learning should be an active, not passive, experience. An online learning environment should facilitate the addition of new content. Learner assessment and course evaluation should be integrated and ongoing. Other authors (O. Balci, Gilley, Adams, Tunar & Barnette) highlight four important aspects:

Providing access to the modules on the web. Teaching the topics in an interactive, animated manner. Reusing existing material. Implementing independent, extendable modules.


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More specifically, in the case of multimedia animations, the steps to be followed are (Lowe, 1999): 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Analyse the dynamic situation and its events. Select the graphic entities, relationships and properties. Establish and sequence main events. Devise a presentation sequence. Construct a temporal structure. Cue the critical information.

It can be seen how some advice is repeated due to its importance in the development of content The people or team in charge of generating the multimedia content should take into account that both the student and the teacher form, in their respective roles, two feedback circles (Fig. 5). In the case of teachers, they start with information that they aim to transmit to the student in the most attractive manner. This type of information probably comes from the vast theoretical– practical data repository of the subject; it has to be filtered in order to eliminate less important concepts, exercises and lessons while preserving the key points of each subject or lesson. The filtering process can also be extended to the distinction between texts and images. The images will give us a clue on of how to focus the subsequent visualization, while the text will guide the ‘‘presenter’’ or narrator (electronic teacher) in the explanation of the subjects. The following step is to

Fig. 5. Structure of design and learning with multimedia system.

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provide these learning objects with multimedia properties (sounds, animations and interactivity) and, finally, they must be made available to the students through computers, via Internet or displayed in the theory classroom. The student gathers this information but, in order to convert it into learning, an internal transformation of the content into knowledge (Gonza´lez-Pienda, 2003) must take occur. This transformation may finally depend on the means through which the information is received, especially those that compel the student to interact Once the basic concepts are learnt, these become part of the student knowledge cloud that agglutinates and relates new information with information previously acquired. To close the student learning circle, the latter returns to the computer to see the animations again, but this time in a different manner, with acquired concepts and a greater critical judgement that leads him to give his opinion on the animation itself, or have doubts on the content that he will comment to the teacher. The teacher will then contrast the doubts, comments or problems that arise with the information in his data store and thus the cycle begins again (Fig. 5). In multimedia, there are five ways to format and deliver your message. You can write it, illustrate it, wiggle it, hear it and interact with it (Wolfgram, 1994). Table 2 gives a series of recommendations we should take into account when designing content for our multimedia presentations using these techniques. However, common sense and putting oneself in the place of the student is the best advice when creating multimedia presentations. For instance, during one of the courses given by the research group to Oviedo University students in the summer of 2003, called ‘‘Vectorial graphics in multimedia environment with Macromedia Flash’’, a group of students developed a total of 20 educational projects for certain problems related with Geometry (Fig. 6) (http://aegi.euitig.uniovi.es/ alumnos.php?a=11&e=q). None of them had previously created educational materials; however, they managed to develop a series of really good Flash animations in a very short time. In all cases, they sought interaction with the user, simplicity of form, striking sounds and explanations with buttons that allowed all the concepts seen in the animation to be revised.

Table 2 Advice for the elaboration of multimedia material Advice Scripting

Suit the language to the audience Create simple sentences

Graphics

Be sure about the relationship between the image and the idea to be transmitted Create your own drawings, images, diagrams Use colours with care

Animation

Use video with care due to its hardware requirements The duration of text movement must not exceed three seconds per line

Audio

Use music to enhance emotion Sound effects to highlight instants, specific moments Narration may be the most direct message

Interaction

Use it whenever possible without losing the idea behind the message to be transmitted Examples: Videoconference, hypermedia, simulations


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Fig. 6. Examples of animations for teaching Geometry created with Macromedia Flash.

3.3. Advantages and disadvantages The first disadvantage of animations with multimedia content is that the users who want to see the animations need to install a small ‘‘plug-in’’ programme in their operating system, in order to display the animation. The need for this ‘‘plug-in’’ programme arises from the small size of the animation. As we could create an executable file that would not require such software and would be fully visualizable by the user, what is the problem? The problem lies in the size of the executable file (Fig. 7). With the three most common types of animations for use in teaching, generated by Flash: swf, exe and avi, size plays an important role when part of that teaching material is to be transmitted by Internet. For an identical animation, the executable file exe may be 40 times as large, while the size of an animation in avi format, as well as losing all interactivity, occupies a space inaccessible on the existing network. A study carried out by Macromedia in June 2003 shows that 97.4% of the users can see the SWF animations created with Flash (Macromedia, 2003). In our opinion, these findings are exces-

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Fig. 7. Relative sizes of animation files.

sively optimistic; but it is true that there is a clear trend towards world-wide use of this plug-in, particularly since Microsoft has included it in its latest operating system, Windows XP. Another disadvantage of Flash animations is their lack of accessibility when inserted in web pages. For instance, a blind user, even using a screen reader to facilitate access to the navigator, cannot currently access the Flash content in the pages. Thus, as it is not a standard item of HTML, the possibility must be foreseen that the user cannot interpret it and alternative means to access the page must be provided (Romero, 2001a, 2001b). Jacob Nielsen, called by many the guru of usability, is one of the most severe critics of Flash animations in web pages (Nielsen, 2000, 2002) and although most of the disadvantages he finds in the animations are related with navigation, as for example that the ‘‘back’’ button does not work, the link colours do not provide information, it reduces accessibility for handicapped people, ‘‘find page’’ does not work, etc., which, in principle, do not imply criticism of the animations as devices for transmitting information in the classroom (teachers may have downloaded the animations to their lap top computers), it is true that the freedom offered by Macromedia for the generation of animations means that each user may create his own style of GUI controls, as for example the scrollbars. It is very probable that the design of these controls does not have the rigour or the study that has been dedicated to the operating systems of Windows and Macintosh, and even if they work, they will, in any case, reduce the effective capacity, as the users will have to learn how to handle an unfamiliar component. A priori, the use of Flash offers advantages and disadvantages typical of any commercial software. In any case, what is important is to employ it properly (Romero, 2001a, 2001b) to enrich the userÕs experience, and when that is the case, good teaching animations are created.

4. Traditional teaching vs. Flash animation We are now going to consider one of the problems most frequently repeated in the final evaluation of Graphic expression and DAO, a first year subject at the University School of Industrial


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Technical Engineering of Gijoń and try to compare the traditional solution of the exercise (Rodriguez de Abajo, 1992) with the Flash animation. ‘‘Assuming any plane on which there is a circumference with radius R, the centre of which is point O. Find the projections of this circumference from its true shape, i.e., knowing the centre and the radius R.’’ This is a conceptually complex exercise as it adds the issue of homological affinity to the solution of the problems of folding. The solution to the exercise is obtained through a series of steps that finalize with the display of the vertical and horizontal projections of the circumference (Fig. 8). The problems that arise in a lecture when explaining this exercise are (Rubio et al., 2003a, 2003b):

Fig. 8. Construction of the ‘‘True Magnitude’’ exercise on paper.

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1. The construction of the exercise takes a long time (it should not be done in separate parts), and the students must not let their concentration slacken at any moment, as they risk omitting a specific step and losing track of the construction process, which would mean that they would not be able to correctly complete their notes. 2. The student has to copy all the steps that the teacher is drawing as well as note down the construction methodology, since, as can be seen in Fig. 8, if the construction methodology is missing, it is quite difficult to discover the way to reach the solution intuitively. 3. The teacher must strictly control the duration of the explanation since the exercise must be complete by the end of the lecture. The size of the file generated by Flash to show the construction of this exercise is 50 Kb; this allows most users to download it from Internet into their computer in less than five seconds. The True Magnitude lesson is shown on a very simple interface divided into four parts (Fig. 9) (for a better view: http://aegi.euitig.uniovi.es/ficheros/11q/mul/Abatimientos%20FLASH.swf). Spatial view: This part presents the problem in three dimensions as well as the successive steps that need to be followed to solve it.

Fig. 9. Interface of the .swf file showing the ‘‘True Magnitude’’.


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Fig. 10. Final result of the exercise shown in Flash.

Dihedral system: As each step of the solution is displayed in the spatial view, this screen shows the same information as it appears in DG. Presenter: The puppet comments on each of the steps carried out, and indicates how the user is to interact with the film. Control: By using three buttons (start–forward–stop) the user can control the film, stopping or restarting it whenever he considers appropriate. The animation screen also includes a button with which the user follows the instructions given by the presenter, and the title of the current lesson. Sometimes, when we want to refine the level of detail, we can omit the spatial view window and focus on the DG, since this is what really matters to the student (Fig. 10).

5. Students’ opinion Leaving aside the problems more specifically related to navigation and design, shown in Section 2.3, and studying in greater depth those problems that students may find when working with these animations, an analysis was made with a group of 60 students, who gave their opinions on a series

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of animations connected with subjects directly related to their studies and DG, which included the animation analysed in the previous section. The students, aged between 18 and 23, tested and worked with all the animations and subsequently responded to a series of surveys giving us, the teachers, their opinions, advice, comments and recommendations on the use of animations in the classroom. 5.1. Animations as a teaching method The purpose of the first question is to go to the core of the issue concerning the use of animations in the classroom. We proposed to the students that the traditional explanations of theory given by the teacher should be replaced by animations; but as can be seen (Fig. 11), the students clearly showed that they were absolutely opposed to it: 90% (55 students vs. 6) considered that the teachersÕ explanations should not be replaced. The students were not positively impressed by the idea of receiving a class of theory without the teacher, as, despite their interactivity, animations still do not have the same level of interactivity as a teacher. However, 18 of those 55 students qualified their answer, mentioning that animations may be a great help for the teacher in the classroom. In a second question, the students were offered the option of not taking notes during the class and receiving, instead, a kind of collection of animations corresponding to each of the subjects to be studied (Fig. 12).

Fig. 11. Can animations replace classes of theory?


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Fig. 12. Can the animations replace the notes you take in the theory class?

In this case, the answers differed slightly from the opinion expressed regarding the position of the teacherÕs explanations. In this case, it seems that they have a little less confidence in their notes. As many students pointed out, the speed at which they have to take notes often leads them to make mistakes. Even so, most students consider that the notes they take during the class cannot be replaced; due mainly to the personal slant mat each of them gives to what he understands from the teacherÕs explanations. Even though most of them consider that animations highlight the most important concepts of each lesson, they cannot show many of the details that a teacher explains in his traditional lectures and of which the students take good note. Up to now, the two questions asked relate to the way information is transmitted in traditional classes, i.e., those attended by the students. But what happens with the subjects taught through the web? The number of courses offered through Internet is growing continuously and in this case, there is no possibility of the asynchronous transmission provided by the teacher in the classroom. On the contrary, in most cases the contents are stored in the form of text documents, generally PDF, in a kind of indexed information store, which the students can access whenever they wish. The question we put to the students was to decide between watching animations through Internet or accessing the documents that may be available to them in a specific web page (Fig. 13). The answers given by the group of students highlight the importance that animations may have as transmitters of content in courses given through the Web. Here we should take into account that the large e-learning platforms such as WebCT or Blackboard base the transmission of information on a more or less organized store of documents, documents for the students to consult. Finally, within this first group of questions, we wanted to find out the degree of attention of the students when working with animations, compared to the attention they maintain in theory classes (Fig. 14).

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Fig. 13. Which means do you prefer for studying a virtual subject.

Fig. 14. Do animations capture your attention more than theory.

More than half of the students affirm that they pay more attention to animations, while the number of students claiming to be more attentive in theory classes does not exceed 30% of the sample. Others (10%) state that they pay the same attention in traditional classes and to animations. One of the objectives of animations is to capture the userÕs attention and take advantage of this heightened curiosity excited by the novelty to transmit new knowledge, and it seems that this has been partially achieved. 5.2. Advantages and disadvantages Turning now to the animations, we examined their structure, interfaces, form of explanation and everything surrounding the animation itself. For this purpose, four questions, which allow us to check any mistakes made in the construction of the animations, were put to the students:


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1. What do you think is the best of these animations? 2. What do you think is the worst of these animations? 3. What aspects you should emphasize from the animations? (step by step, the movement, funny, repetitive) 4. Do you think that they would be more interesting with sound? The first is designed to discover the most positive characteristic of the animations. In some cases, the students gave more than one answer to the question (Fig. 15), most of them being common to a large part of the students. Of the answers given by the students, five were frequently repeated; this gives us an idea of what aspect of the animations they value most highly: Step-by-step: The most frequent answer to the survey is directly related with the control students have over animations. Most of the animations have controls that allow the user to stop, resume, go to the beginning, go to the end, go one step forward or one step back. These devices allow the students to control the visualization and adapt the animation to their learning rate. Flash allows the user to control the animations, and although, in most cases, this is one of its most important properties, it may be counterproductive if the user progresses through the animation at a higher speed than the speed of the visualization itself (Ballanko & Collins, 2002). Amusing: The students find animations amusing and they consider this a positive characteristic. As many of them pointed out, they are learning unconsciously, without being aware that they are visualizing three-dimensional concepts with quite a high level of complexity. This affective characteristic of learning is highly motivating as it attracts and holds the userÕs attention – an essential aspect without which teachers will never be able to use with advantage any kind of educational resource (Lowe, 2001). This is why affective characteristics may play a very important role in the teaching–learning process.

Fig. 15. What is the best aspect of the animations?

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Availability: Another of the strong points of animations is that, as they are located in a web server, they can be consulted at any time. Furthermore, the students consider that having material they can access as many times as they want constitutes an enormous advantage. Explanation: The three characteristics mentioned above would be of no use if the teaching animations created do contain clear explanations with a well-defined structure that address the most important concepts of each lesson in a didactic way. Resolving queries: Another of the aspects highlighted by the students was the efficacy of the animations for solving certain doubts that students have about the topics. Finally, other answers not included within the previous group highlighted aspects of the animations such as ease of handling or the improvement in spatial perception achieved by watching animations in three dimensions. As opposed to the most positive characteristics, the students also found quite a number of obstacles to the learning process (Fig. 16). In this case, there were four drawbacks frequently mentioned in the studentsÕ answers: They do not solve doubts: The main problem that students find when working with animations is that in spite of the control they have over the visualization and speed, it cannot be considered equal to a complete asynchronous communication, as they much appreciate the possibility of solving doubts that may arise at any given moment. This ceases to be a problem if the animations are watched or analysed at least once with the teacher is in the classroom. In order to have a communication channel with the teacher at all times, his e-mail address should always be included in the animation.

Fig. 16. What is the worst aspect of the animations?


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Accessibility: One of the problems most frequently mentioned by the students in the surveys is the difficulty to access this material. It is true that they can access it easily and quickly at the university, but not all of them have a wide-band connection at home. This problem cannot be easily solved by the teaching staff; however, the animations could be given to each student on physical support at the beginning of each course or subject. Speed: Some students found it difficult to follow the explanations given in the animations while others, on the contrary, considered that the speed of the explanation was too slow. One possible solution to this problem is to break down the contents into smaller units so that the student can pass from one to another more or less quickly. Distraction: In the case of very colourful animations with sound, some students lost track of the explanations and were distracted by the movements of the animated items. This is due to a design that aims to be too amusing and does not have a proper balance between distraction and the information it transmits. 6. Conclusions Flash technology has revolutionized Internet. The generation of animations of a very small size, together with their interaction capacity and ease of use, has led to the spread of this technology among most creators of web pages, and many sites include animations or colourful presentations in their initial pages, thanks to Flash. This technology opens a field with many applications for university teaching, since the theory content of the subjects can be converted to a greater or lesser extent into multimedia content, which students may consult and control at any time. But animations are not a solution to teaching problems since, if they are not correctly designed, they may be counterproductive for the learning process. In the specific case of DG, the use of these animations is more enriching as, in many cases, it accelerates the development of the studentsÕ spatial perception – a basic objective in the training of any engineer. From experiments carried out with students who used animations created with Flash, a series of practical findings were obtained on how to create educational animations for DG:

Split up the content to be animated by Flash into basic learning units. Provide the animations with as much interactivity as possible. Hold the userÕs attention without recourse to unnecessary distractions. Allow the student to control the animation at all times.

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Interactive multimedia animation with Macromedia Flash in Descriptive Geometry teaching

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