Bioinformatics in Motion Steffen Heber, NCSU Leif Saul, CU-Boulder

Overview Background about Animations The Bioinformatics in Motion Project Conclusions and Future Developments

Educational Animations are Popular! Algorithm animation in Computer Science

Other Life Science Animations Biology in motion [ Biology Animation Library [ HHMI’s Biointeractive – Virtual Labs [ Science Animations, Movies & Interactive Tutorial Links [ Geospiza, Inc. Education [ Virtual Cell Animation Collection [ DNA Microarray Methodology – Flash Animation [ Also, often used in software demos, tutorials, and webinars

Common Knowledge? Educational Animations can … directly show changes in form, position, and time increase student interest and motivation help students to understand and remember information

Student Response “I used them to study for the final” “yes, to practice how the algorithm works” “it helped me to understand, and stay awake” “they helped to make the lecture interesting” “fun stuff!” “probably not, too time consuming” 2 Did not respond 1 Negative answer 1 Indifferent 25 Positive answer Do you feel that algorithm visualization/animation helped you to learn how algorithms work?

Are Animations Effective? Just watching does not improve learning

How We Learn from Animations Two main information processing channels: visual and auditory Learning = active processing in memory Limited capacity for info processing

What Makes a “Good” Animation? Use research based design principles: Present animation and narration simultaneously Avoid identical streams of printed and spoken words Use narration in conversational style Focus on interactive activities

Bioinformatics in Motion Develop Flash Animation Modules for undergraduate students. Topics: Sequence Alignment Motif Finding/Discovery Database Search: BLAST Genome Rearrangements Fragment Assembly Hidden Markov Models Animations:

Workflow 1.Text storyboard – Illustrated with static Flash images – Images developed into animations A similar approach as used by PIXAR

Why Flash? Flash - Benefits include: –Small file size –Plug-in widely distributed –Object-oriented programming (Actionscript 3) ‏ –Visual authoring tools Animated programmatically –Static images placed on stage –Transitions encoded in XML –Animations generated at runtime

Project Features Static images Cartoons / metaphors Animations Spoken narration Interactivity User controls delivery Instructor controls delivery

Project Features Static images Cartoons / metaphors Animations Spoken narration Interactivity User controls delivery Instructor controls delivery Other resources

User Controls Delivery Playback controls Voice vs. text narration “Liquid” interface adjusts to screen size User feedback Please send us feedback!

Types of Animation Used Changes in size, position, etc. Cartoons / metaphors Visual effects / enhancements Computed

Types of Interactivity Used Quiz Exploration / experiment Game-like (user seeks an optimum) ‏

Some Design Dilemmas Continuous “movie” vs. chunks? –Movie: Inviting, easy experience –Chunks: User can choose How much narration per step? –Too much: User less in control –Too little: User gets “click” fatigue

Conclusions: Animations … are fun! –they increase attention and enthusiasm address different learning styles support teachers, distance education & independent student learning work best if interactive in Flash are time-consuming to develop

Future Areas of Development What material is best taught via animations? How to package and integrate animations into class/html documents? Can animations adapt to different student needs?

Acknowledgments Benjamin Wheeler, NCSU

Questions? Animations: