EDU 643

QUICK AND DIRTY LESSON OUTLINE: Intro to Stop Motion Animation

Intro/Hook (10-15 minutes)

• Watch video "What Is Stop Motion Animation and How Does It Work?"

• Prompt students to think about types of stop-motion animation they think they've seen (or have done on their own) in the past.

• Describe technology typically needed, and technical processes to create stop-motion animation

• Discuss and demonstrate the concept of how objects move when animated, and how object speed is manipulated in stop-motion

  • • • Discuss and demonstrate the concept of a "speed ramp" in stop-motion and how to achieve this while creating animations

Activity: (20-25 minutes)

• For students in person, use OKIOCAM to have students experiment with using a marker as their "subject" and attempting to make the marker come alive and move across the table. Challenge students to demonstrate a speed ramp as well as a constant speed with the marker moving.

• For students online, they can use any camera, an iPad or iPhone and a multitude of free apps available that allow the creation of stop motion animation.

Assessment:

• Students will bring to life any toy they have at home and create a 10 second animation. They can choose what their toy is doing when bringing it to life.

TECH TOOL EVALUATION - TOOLS I'VE USED BEFORE

The first tool that I reviewed for this project was a USB external camera device that connects easily to any laptop, called OKIOCAM, which students can use to create stop-motion animations.

The second tool I chose to review was YouTube as a learning tool, since I'm constantly using it with my film students.

Reflection:

The OKIOCAM is actually something I used in the past and have had lots of success with it while teaching animation to my students. I actually was rather surprised that this evaluation gave it only a 10 out of 18. And the area where it lost most of the points were in the "Extending the Learning" category. I think this was a great eye-opener for me and the tools I choose to use. I don't think this evaluation will change how I use the OKIOCAM, as I still find it a very effective tool for the unit, however, this evaluation may help me reassess future tools I invest time in.

For my assessment of YouTube, I was mostly curious how it would rate on this evaluation. Even though YouTube is used for all kinds of learning, it definitely isn't built to be an effective tool to help people learn by allowing them to watch what they need to watch, then move into an activity without distraction. I acknowledge this downside, and would often choose to incorporate a third party app like EdPuzzle to control how my students consume content, since YouTube is built to entice the viewer to continuously consume more content through its algorithm. Where I feel YouTube actually shined was in their "Extending the learning goals" since the technology could easily be accessed outside of a typical school day, I feel the tech can connect learning goals with real life experience (if students are provided with the right videos to consume), and students can improve their softskills if they demonstrate their learning by becoming creators of content and use the platform to then share their learning on the platform. With this bump in score from this category, I gave it a final score of 12 - higher than I expected.

Out of the two tools that I reviewed using this process, I could forego the use of YouTube, and choose to use the USB cam instead. Even though YouTube has the power to inspire and share ideas and examples that may not be accessible in the classroom, when it actually comes down to the learning, using the USB camera is how students will learn. That being said, I feel they are both quite important tools for this process as one motivates learning, while the other assists or facilitates in learning, and I could potentially say that the two would go hand-in-hand for this type of lesson.

TECH TOOL EVALUATION - TOOLS I HAVEN'T USED BEFORE

The third tool that I reviewed for this project was a piece of software called "Dragonframe", which is a professional-level software for stop-motion animation.

The fourth tool that I reviewed for this project was a DSLR camera. Even though I've used a DSLR camera, I haven't used it with students for stop-motion animation, and I figured it would be good to assess this tool's viability for a stop-motion unit.

Reflection:

The main reason why I haven't really used these tools before for a unit like this is because they aren't very accessible to students. I found the the concept of reviewing these two tools interesting as I sort of wanted the review to validate my feelings towards these tools and why they aren't effective tools for a unit on stop-motion animation with students. The main reason why they aren't very accessible is the fact that they are both costly, and make it difficult for learners to continue their work outside of class, or while learning online. Although the combination of these tools allow for professional level stop motion animations to be created, the need for that level of quality for a classroom setting is so low, it invalidates these tools and, in my opinion, makes them not very viable for a classroom situation.

After finishing the review, I thought the score of each item would be in the lower tier of scores, but both squeaked into the middle tier. After considering this, along with the first set of tools that I have used often and found to be very effective tools also both being in the middle tier, this leads me to the conclusion that I feel I can use this tech tool review process as a good starting point, but not a "be all and end all" of assessing a particular tool's worth in a classroom setting. Additionally, this may be more beneficial for someone without first hand experience with those tools or is a less experienced teacher in that particular unit.