Open Social-Shared Animated GIFs for Peer-to-Peer Teaching and Learning

Abstract

In the open-shared teaching and learning space, the complexity of the shared learning contents vary. These range from stand-alone items and digital learning objects to full learning sequences and sets of resources. One humble object is the animated GIF, lightweight motion images used in graphical user interfaces (GUIs), expressive memes and commentary, emoticons, and other applications. Animated GIFs are fairly easy to create; they may be integrated into learning documents (handouts, slideshows, articles) and other objects, and it plays offline (and without the need for any downloadable player). This work involves an analysis of some available animated GIFs for education in social imagery collections. Based on findings, this work explores the viability of animated GIFs for various open-shared learning applications globally and some potential strategies and tactics, given real-world limits.