Adapting the Twelve Principles of Classic Animation to Lectures

Abstract

This paper borrows from the fields of classic animation and 3D animation and adapts the fundamental principles of these subjects to the lecturing context. An analogy is drawn between an animator and a lecturer due to their shared objective: to communicate in an engaging way. If the fundamental principles of animation are read under the point of view of how they communicate a message, it is not difficult to see that they summarise some of the key concepts in the fields of education and educational psychology. Once adapted the principles can be used as a guideline by novice lecturers to increase students' engagement both in traditional lectures and in e-learning environments. The principles have been applied successfully in teaching the Programming for 3D module and a number of modules at the University of Sussex obtaining good feedback from students.