3-D versus 2-D Animation in Multimedia Application: Is the Extra Effort Worth It?

Does animation play a role in multimedia learning? Animation in multimedia is said to be beneficial to learning especially when the learning material demands visual movements. The emergence of 3-Dimensional animated visuals has extended the presentation mode in multimedia learning. It is said that animated visuals in a 3-D representation not only possess motivational value that promotes positive attitudes toward instruction but also facilitate learning when the subject matter requires dynamic motion and 3-D visual cue. The field of computer science, especially in operating systems concepts uses an array of abstract concepts such as virtual memory, paging, fragmentations etc to describe and explain the underlying processes. Various studies together with our own observations strongly indicate that students often find these concepts difficult to learn, as they cannot easily be demonstrated. This study investigates the effects of animation on student understanding when studying a complex domain in computer science, that is, the subject of memory management concepts in operating systems. A multimedia learning system was developed in two different versions: 2-D animation and 3-D animation. A hundred and one students took part in this study and they were assigned into one of these groups. All the students who took part in this experiment had low prior knowledge in this subject and after viewing the treatment, they were asked to take a test which tested them for recall and transfer knowledge. This test was used to determine if, in fact, improved learning actually occurred and which version of the animation produced the better outcome. Initial analysis of results indicates no statistical difference between the scores for the two versions and suggests that animations, by themselves, do not necessarily improve student understanding.