USE OF NEW FEATURES AND ADD-ONS IN POWERPOINT TO CREATE ANIMATIONS THAT STIMULATE LEARNING

Abstract

E-learning has developed over the years into an crucial element of the modern teaching process, and the teaching methods have changed accordingly. In this context, animations and simulations play a significant role. As many students are mainly visuals learners, it is largely accepted that animations and simulations can help the student learning process, because they clarify more complicated concepts through visual means, complementing and simplifying the old-fashioned textual based presentation. In order to make the teaching content more attractive and interesting, E-learning authoring tools are used to integrate a large range of media in the course content. One of the most known and used unspecialized authoring tool is MS PowerPoint, a presentation software that has evolved significantly since his first edition in 1990. Through the years it has become the main technology platform in teaching, even though other options are presently available. The important role MS PowerPoint plays in developing course authoring is increased by the fact that many noteworthy professional course authoring tools use its structure. The latest editions of the MS PowerPoint allows the user to add audio and video clips in the presentation, and have enhanced animation capabilities, and these abilities can be enriched even more with the help of add-ons such as motion path add-on. The paper examines the new abilities of MS PowerPoint 2010, as it is and associated with some add-ons, to create animations that are used to increase the instruction level of the students. Besides the new improvements (the new Microsoft Office Backstage view, background removing capabilities, the ability to embed videos instead of linking them, new transition and animation options and the Animation Painter), some useful animating tools that do not appear in the latest version, such as flash once animation, are identified. Animations were developed for the Environmental protection course, a course usually regarded as challenging by textile chemistry students, and they were meant to transmit knowledge on processes that occur in wastewater treatment. To assess the students learning, graded quizzes (multiple choice) regarding the recently acquired knowledge have been created using iSping QuizMaker and inserted at the end of each presentation. Eventually, the students have been questioned in order to determine their opinions concerning computerized simulations and animations, and some advantages and drawbacks of this teaching method in higher education have been found. Changes in the students performance as a result of introducing animations and simulations into the Environmental protection course have been analyzed.