Animation from Mobile Ed

We're experimenting with new ways of presenting content from the Logos Mobile Ed courses. Here's a 90 second clip one of Dr. John Walton's courses:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_lynC1M0kU

What do you think? Does the animation help? Are these excerpts interesting and useful?

(There are lots of other clips at http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeofdgsYHGTPkCwVnYyC5mQ but they haven't been illustrated like this one.)

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Comments

Rick

What do you think? Does the animation help? Are these excerpts interesting and useful?

I am glad that you are considering making the presentations more dynamic. The main reason that I have not considered investing in any of the Mobile ED offerings is because I need to have something that grabs my attention and keeps my mind from wondering. All of the samples of the courses that I have viewed simply shows the instructor with a white background.

Concerning the new animations, to me, this is too much animation and it is too busy. As I try to read it, I unintentionally zone the speaker out. Maybe I am too slow to benefit from the courses, I'm not sure. But, I do believe that the courses could use some background slides or something along that line.

Randy W. Sims

Very much depends on your audience. For me, the given example feels really dumbed down. I'm expecting more college level presentation, so animation would be a positive, but only if used sparingly, and in the proper places where it helps explain without dumbing it down.

However, if your aim is to make some segments that can be used in regular church groups, for a wider audience, then something like the example may work. Although it's still stretching a bit, almost feels like aimed for younger people.

With respect to the artists. Good animation, just not sure of it's place or audience.

Benjamin Varghese

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/679213#Comment_679213

The animations look good as marketing material, or to grab our attention into the course, or within the course to grab our attention into a key idea that would otherwise get lost

Otherwise it is too distracting to have a lot of animations within the course itself. The simple reason that the attentions gets shifted from the content/message to the animation itself.

Simon’s Brother

Animation for sure has it's place to draw our attention to a key concept or idea provided it it's not over used through out the whole course. This particular animation I found was a little bit too busy, too much happening that distracts you from the the point of what is being said by the speaker. You are drawn to individual words and phrases and how they have been animated instead of the point the speaker is trying to make.

Bruce Dunning

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/679222#Comment_679222

The animation is interesting but personally I find it more distracting than helpful. Perhaps it was just the particular animation. As Randy said, it might also depend on the audience.

Kenneth Neighoff

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/679242#Comment_679242

The animation was done well, but if the point is to convince one to buy, then for me it will not. I buy courses based on two issues: my current interests/areas of study at the moment and price.

James Hiddle

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/679255#Comment_679255

The animation looks good but it's distracting. What would be better is have the instructor in front of a blue screen and use special effects Hollywood style to display whatever the topic is.

Bill Shewmaker

I think the animations were done for animation's sake...[:S]. When I first saw this new animation, I thought: "nice," however, after watching "In the beginning" twisted and turned and everything else, it became more of a distraction than a help.

An animation once in a while might be alright, but constantly changing like this was too much (in my opinion).

Kevin A. Purcell

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/679270#Comment_679270

I like it. The spoken content is the "content" and the animation is a subtle reinforcement of what's being said.

David Achorn

I have purchased several of the Mobil Ed courses and would welcome a bit of animation as long as it complimented the lecture. Too much animation would be a distraction, however.

Gerard Shanley

I like the animation but it might be more of a distraction than a help, particularly since the courses are already broken up into short segments that very effectively communicate focused concepts in a segment by segment progressive fashion. I think this teaching method is one of Mobile Ed's greatest strengths and any animation should be used only if it enhances communication of each segment's main concept or moves the overall theme forward. If Mobile Ed used a more traditional model of the longer classroom time frame then animation would have a definite value, however, it's difficult me to envision how there would be added value to the existing format.Sometimes there is a danger in over tweaking something that is already achieving its objective.

Matthew C Jones

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_lynC1M0kU

What do you think? Does the animation help? Are these excerpts interesting and useful?

I like it and do not find it distracting.

Deacon Steve

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/679298#Comment_679298

I thought the animation in the segment was overdone. I think there is a place for some use of animation, but only as an aid to a complex idea. I would like to see a sample of a more limited use in the context of a lecture.

Alan Charles Gielczyk

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/679300#Comment_679300

Not sure if I like it or not. If used in moderation probably. The bigger thing for me is that I already own 6 courses, if animations are added to current courses will I receive the updated videos free?

Randy W. Sims

We're experimenting with new ways of presenting content from the Logos Mobile Ed courses.

Re-reading this statement, are you talking about adding new or updated content TO Mobile Ed or re-purposing some of the material FROM Mobile Ed for a different audience?

Restating my previous post: I'm very much in favor of both (so long as they are not mixed).

Mobile Ed definitely benefits from various media: photos, illustrations, maps, and animations. They would seem to be primarily useful where they 1) make the material easier to understand or 2) make important material easier to remember or memorize (in a Schoolhouse Rock kinda way, just not dumbed down). If it doesn't accomplish one of those goals, it's just fluff and possibly distracting.

Alternatively, using some segments from Mobile Ed that teach self-contained concepts, adding animations to make them simple, memorable, and entertaining, etc for larger audiences, and selling those clips individually, on demand, and possibly in collections, I think this is an excellent idea too. In church, we often follow studies that have accompanying DVD material. We typically don't watch all the DVD sessions, just key sessions or excerpts that explain something well or in a memorable way. It would seem that there could be a market for such clips that explain various concepts in simple ways that could be purchased for specific purposes on an as needed basis.

But the same material would not apply to both audiences. Mobile Ed media should be more academic, not cutesy. Individual clips for churches and groups should be entertaining, simple, memorable; cutesy is OK here, sometimes.

SineNomine

I think that animation is a good idea and that this one was, with one exception, well executed. The content and ideas involved in the animation were great and at once convey, reinforce, and explain the message quite well. The trouble is that there is way too much movement. At any one point, most of the screen either was or was about to be displaying rapid movement. The effect of all of this is magnified by the animation's penchant for pausing all movement very briefly between transitions. In the end, it's too much. Remember that this is what is achieved by a mere 90 second clip. Ninety minutes of this would be visually intolerable.

If the presenter talked about half as fast, the animation would have been fine, but then the intellectual aspect of the audio would have been less engaging. What I would suggest is reworking the example animation to decrease the amount of movement (both velocity and acceleration) of the animation's elements.

TL;DR: animation really is a good idea.

James Milne Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/679354#Comment_679354

I agree with SineNomine that I would like the speakers to speak more slowly. But I do like the animation. For those of us who get easily distracted, like both my wife and I, the animation would serve to maintain our concentration. Whereas now we occasionally drift off into "wonder where he bought that shirt" or "looks like he had a few beers last night". I am sure you know what I mean. So yes please, give us some animation, and even better, work it into the existing modules.

Rob

I don't like the ornate prolonged animation in the example.

It's way too distracting.

A simpler form of it with a purpose might work for me.

SineNomine

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/679369#Comment_679369

I agree with SineNomine that I would like the speakers to speak more slowly.

For the record, I do not want the speakers to speak more slowly. I want the animations to be redesigned to involve less and generally slower movement.

Keith Larson

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/679405#Comment_679405

I like the example. One of your newest employees John Schwandt has done some very good animated videos with his Greek courses: http://youtu.be/JSkzOKDnLMM

I think the key is not to do them just because you can, but ask, "Will this help the student learn?"

Bob Pritchett

Thanks for all the feedback.

This segment is more animated than what we'd want to do inside a course; as has been pointed out, this was an experiment in presenting content from the Mobile Ed course, and the artist gave it more attention than we'd be able to afford on a longer segment -- and lots more than could be given to a multi-hour course.

I'm not even sure exactly what we'll do with these clips, or how useful they are except as promotional pieces for the courses, but we'll continue to experiment. Your feedback is very helpful, and now I want to try both less animation/distraction as well as seeing how some animation might help if used carefully within the longer courses.

SineNomine

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/679650#Comment_679650

I'm not even sure exactly what we'll do with these clips, or how useful they are except as promotional pieces for the courses, but we'll continue to experiment. Your feedback is very helpful, and now I want to try both less animation/distraction as well as seeing how some animation might help if used carefully within the longer courses.

I hope that you'll continue to post links to animation experiments in the forums. I'm looking forward to them. [:)]

Brother Mark