Introduction

Welcome to my blog on Educational Futures. Over the past few months I have been blogging about the future of education, mainly focusing on the learning environments where children spend a lot of their daily lives striving to improve and develop (in most cases).

A large part of this blog has been focused on animation; The different types, camera-made and camera-less, different mediums/equipment to go by creating animation, and the affects it has on learning and development. However, I have also investigated into what makes a good learning environment for a learner within a setting; as well as the different activities and features that are important to make the learning environment a stimulating environment. So this is just a couple of the different areas you will expect to see posted up here.

So if you are a fan of technology and/or animation or are intuiged in the different ways these mediums can impact ones learning then tune in and stay posted as this blog could just be for you. :)

Oh and before you go... Don't forget to feed my fish! (In the tank at the bottom) ;)

Peer Review of a Fellow Groups Stop Motion Animation

I have chosen to review the Stop-Motion animation created by Toni Watts and Feba Philip called:

The Life Of A Student 

You can find the Link to their blog and video here ---> http://p095516tjw.blogspot.co.uk/

They used the medium of Cutouts to create their Stop-motion animation. I personally really enjoyed their animation. I found it ran smoothly, was really entertaining, humorous, very well drawn and put together, and all the other features like the sound lighting etc seemed to compliment it very well. The fact it was on a topic their target audience (University students) could relate to worked in their favour making it more enjoyable to watch.

I found the story ran through very well and kept my attention all the way through. It didnt feel like I was watching it for 2 minutes. All the cutouts were really well drawn which added to how realistic it looked; It was evident that they had put time into it. They used a music track through out the whole animation which complimented it all very well, and encouraged a smooth flow from scene to scene. So altogether it put across their message very well.

However... A couple of things I thought could have been better was, to use more frames to really highlight and show off the movements of their character; in turn making her look like she is more alive and less like a cutout. Also parts of the film were slightly jittery and were freezing up, which didn't really affect the quality of the animation, but could be something to consider. Apart from that, overall the animation worked well and was very enjoyable.

Learners and an ICT rich environment

ICT has long been a subject that seems to be in the background of schooling today; despite the internet and technology being such an important and well used thing in today's culture, even to the point of obsession in this generation. Largely due to how accessible it is and the introduction of social networking sites and apps like Facebook... Twitter... Snapchat... etc. It has such a massive impact upon behaviour, self-esteem, emotional regulation, how active one is and just generally how one spends their time day to day, etc. I believe that ICT needs to be a more important part of our school curriculum; it should be closer to the forefront. Children need to be taught how to use it, and in the right way. If we believe this is a possible future of our education, we need to ensure people know how to use it to its full potential without abusing it. I remember times back in Secondary school, sitting in a lesson and starting the lesson 5 / 10 minutes late simply because the teacher didn't know how to work the computer properly. This then lead to a pupil teaching the teacher, to solve the issue.

 

  The video above shows teachers at Coventry University talking about their experiences with ICT and the use of technology as part of their teaching and its usefulness in students extra learning, and how it is shaping this generations education.

Bett is a technology event held in London. It shows off the latest technology and boasts a show of ICT that intends to inspire and spur people to investigate and be creative. Bett consists mainly of seminars and talks, stalls and exhibits with different things to do and see. They do something there called summit's for Higher Education, which focuses on the use of technology specifically in higher education. This often refreshes the thoughts of lecturers and enables them to bring new fresh ideas into their teaching.

The slow introduction of Web 2.0 has given people an improved experience in surfing the web. It Increases flexibility with what can be done with technology and the internet and giving people a greater freedom and control of its use, therefore increasing interactivity.

My Animation made through Stop-Motion Techniques

As part of my Educational futures module we were asked to create a two minute long animation made only with Stop-motion techniques. The objective was to deliver a certain message or moral through the 2 minutes and to show ability and convince the audience that the characters are alive and moving on their own.

Stop-Motion is a very tricky and time consuming way of creating an animation; although it can be a lot of fun and is very rewarding once watching the finished result of your work. Certainly a perfectionists nightmare! As so much can go wrong... even in the slight nudge of the camera their is a stress that follows, to get it back into the same position. Then there is the lighting, the characters, the stage and the background/setting as well as other things that have to remain the same from picture to picture; so use items that aren't likely to change on their own (unless of course it's part of the story for it to change).

I found when making this animation the easiest way was to do as much as I could in one run. Whenever I wanted to finish working on it for the day I made sure to finish the scene or get to a point where there was a fade-out or change of set so I could start afresh the next day; This helped to keep the continuity of the realism of the animation, and meant any slight changes over night didn't affect the animation.

Apart from these small details working on this animation turned out to be a very enjoyable process, even though very time consuming. However, this meant you could really invest your own creativity into it and really make it yours. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in animation.

So here is my animation called...

The Lion and the Monkey: (Hope you enjoy it!) Make sure you watch it in HD quality :).