The dark side of custom animation

摘要

Over the last decade, PowerPoint has become the medium of choice for many instructors. The software provides animation options for the emphasis, entry or disappearance of text and figures. Many instructors use these options regularly with the impression that such effects enhance student learning by allowing concepts to be introduced incrementally. This research explores the impact of custom animation in PowerPoint lectures and examines the idea that custom animation may, in fact, negatively impact student learning. To test this hypothesis, two versions of a PowerPoint lecture were recorded in Camtasia Studio. The presentations differed only in the presence of animation to incrementally present information. To assess the impact of custom animation on student learning, students were shown either the animated or non-animated recordings and were tested regarding the presented information. The computational results show a significant difference (p < 0.001) between the means of overall student performance after viewing lectures with non-animated and animated PowerPoint slides, suggesting that static slides allow students to retain more information than their dynamic counterparts.