Powtooning Your Presentation The Use Of Animated Presentation Software Tool In English Oral Presentation Class

Powtoon-ing Your Presentation: The use of animated presentation software tool in English Oral Presentation Class. MUHAMMAD ZAKI YAHAYA1, SURYANI SABRI2, MARYAM HAMZAH3 1Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, MALAYSIA, 2Politeknik Seberang Perai, 13500, Permatang Pauh, Penang MALAYSIA, 3School of Languages, Literacies and Translation, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Minden, Penang, MALAYSIA, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Abstract— It is somewhat daunting for a teacher to choose years. No more only dull ‘talk and chalk’ sessions, but students teaching aids to be used in English oral presentation now are being showcased with many technologically enhanced classroom from a vast selection of readily available materials online, which are ready to be ‘plucked’ and used by materials. Those ready-made materials may not be in line their teachers or lecturers. However, the issue of relevancy and with the needs of the students, the syllabus content and the suitability of those materials are still being questioned. Some of policy. Some might be seen suitable, but it may lack the those materials may look exciting and interesting, but they may interesting factor which usually being sought after by the not be designed in line with the need of the targeted students. Driven by the demand to create authentic custom curriculum, thus creating less impactful teaching and learning made classroom materials, it is crucial for the developer to sessions. The needs to create own customised teaching aids is know the students’ feedback on the material designed. Hence, seen crucial. this study aims to assess students’ feedback on the material created with an animated presentation software tool To cater the needs of designing custom made teaching aids (Powtoon.com) for their English oral presentation class. An is not as tough as it was before. These days, interesting yet SPSS procedure was run to generate the result on the data quality teaching aids can be created within minutes, thanks to gathered through the delegation of questionnaire to a group the readily easy-to-use presentation software tools available of students intending to achieve the abovementioned aim. The online, like prezi.com, Sparkol’s videoscribe, emaze.com and findings of this study are expected to benefit the practitioners as well as the material designers in preparing teaching aids powtoon.com. These available presentation tools can be used to be used in their English oral presentation classes. to create interesting materials, diminishing the typical static powerpoint slides with stiff movement like what we have Index Terms— Keywords: English oral presentation material; usually used before. Animation, movement, graphics, videos animated presentation software; material development; and audios can be integrated and used by just merely some students’ feedback clicks and drags of the mouse. Since “visual perception contributes to about 90% to all human learning” Rautrao [1], I INTRODUCTION the used of visual aids may add impact to the teaching and learning processes by reinforcing the message, “clarify points Teaching is never an easy task. Similar to cooking, baking and create excitement” [1], thus making it an excellent or even backpacking, it demands early preparation and this seasoning to be added in the classroom. preparation itself can be a little formidable. For many years, the teacher is the primary source of information. Having provided Unlike those days, creating visual aids incorporating with restricted variant of teaching aids, the didactic lecture was animation was seen as a daunting task that was done only by ritualized solely on metre-thick books, handouts and printouts. the experts, where animation and graphic design skills were needed. These days, almost anybody can create their own The teaching and learning processes that take place animation with a simple tutorial made available online. nowadays have changed, grow and bloomed for the past twenty Enlighten by this, educators are among those who gain benefit of this animation design process ‘simplification’. Lessons now are made easy with the help of animated presentation software available online. These online teaching tools like prezi.com, allow teachers to creatively tailor authentic custom made Page 1 of 6

classroom materials for their lessons, hence expand integrated customized teaching and presentation aid created by effectiveness of the teaching and learning processes. using powtoon.com, where it uses the content of Malaysian polytechnic’s English syllabus. Unlike other teaching aids There were many studies and innovations being done in available, DATA is considered as an innovative teaching aid Malaysian Polytechnic system like the impact of reflective since the contents have been personalised and tailored to cater video journal on students’ oral presentation performance [2], for specific lesson or group of students, focusing on Malaysian an exploratory study on in-service training for English Polytechnics. One only needs an animated presentation language lecturers in Malaysian polytechnics [3] and study software tool, syllabus contents and some creativity to create focusing on the curriculum used by the system [4], but a well the animated teaching aid. documented data which focuses on the evaluation of a designed animated teaching or presentation aids, or studies assessing c. Designing animated teaching aids learners’ feedback on the material used in the classroom is According to Howard, Jocelyn and Major [6] there are rather scarce. This had triggered the researchers to conduct a small scale study, trying to fill the vacancy, by initiating the eight basic guidelines in designing effective language teaching design of an animated teaching aids using powtoon.com, an material. Those guidelines are: animated presentation software tool. i- Text contextualisation: Materials designed should be This study was set to answer these questions: in line with the curriculum or syllabus they intend 1. What are the students’ views on the appropriateness of to discuss hence the objectives could be achieved. Materials should also being contextualised to the the animation created with Powtoon.com as the experiences, prior knowledge and language of the teaching aids in English oral presentation class? learners. 2. What are the students’ overall views on the use of the designed animated teaching aids (DATA) in English ii- Interactive and generative: Materials designed should oral presentation class? be able to engage students and allow them to interact with the tasks assigned. II. LITERATURE REVIEW iii- Encouraging: Materials designed should always Recently, animated teaching and presentation aids created encourage learners to develop skills and strategies with animated presentation software tools like PowToon.com, necessary for communication hence they could prezi.com, Sparkol’s Videoscribe, and Goanimate.com have take up opportunities outside the classroom. become the de facto presentation tools widely used in tertiary education streamlined in the world, including Malaysia. iv- All-rounder: Materials designed is able to develop Despite of the increase in popularity, they also face increase active, independent language learners hence criticism from its conservative pedagogical counterpart. While encourage learners to be analytical about some teachers started to welcome technology into the functions of the language. Learners must be able learning, others may have preferred to stick to the traditional to form and test hypotheses on their own hence ‘blackboard’ approach. There has always been a debate among regulate practice via creative language expression. professors, teachers, curriculum designers and practitioners whether this ‘Gen-Y learning trend’ will lead to new, v- Language integrity: Materials designed should offer different, and better learning experiences. This question is learners opportunities to productively practice the relatively dormant for the past few years. However, it has four skills in language learning. recently returned to the forefront, here in this paper. vi- Authentic: Materials designed should be something a. Theoretical framework that of learners' everyday encounter i.e. real This paper attempts to utilise cognitive constructivist spoken situation so learners could learn naturally. theory of multimedia (CCTM) developed by Bull [5] as its vii- Attractive: This has to do with the overall view of the main theoretical framework. The theory incorporates concepts material such as its physical appearance (cover, from multidisciplinary theories such as multiple intelligences color, font) and usability (user-friendly) theory, constructivist theory and cognitive theory of multimedia. CCTM focuses on constructing knowledge viii- Organized and coherent: There is a continuation through prior knowledge and verbal experiences. As in the within or between individual tasks in the case of designed animated teaching and presentation aids, it materials designed. integrates images, animations, pictures and graphics to promote effective learning environment via visual and verbal In addition, Mayer [7] in Bull [1] states that an interactive input from the presentation. teacher-made digital material must create a balance between the verbal and visual systems for effective learning outcomes, b. Defining DATA where it should cover the verbal and non-verbal elements The designed animated teaching aids (DATA) is a newly powerful enough to influence both learners’ motivational and cognitive processes. Here are the six principles of multimedia coined term by the researchers referring to the technology design: i- Multimedia representation: Information is to be presented at least using two modes (audio, video, text, picture) on slides. Page 2 of 6

ii- Contiguity principle: Instructor should also combine presentation. In short DATA provides learners with two different modes (text and picture, video and opportunity to become independent since it maximises text) to make it a more comprehensible learning potential of the students and letting them access it on presentation. their own at their own time. iii- Split-attention: pictures or text are to be presented in III METHODOLOGY narration aligned with visual information as this will enhance learners' comprehension. The methodology of this study is as described below where it is divided into four sections. Those sections are (i) research iv- Individual differences principle: concepts presented subjects; (ii) the design of the DATA; (iii) the data gathering should take into account learners' prior instrument; and (iv) the data collection procedure. knowledge so every learner could experience the same learning process. (i) The research subjects Purposive sampling procedure was used in this study where v- Coherence principle: Instructor should minimise the usage of pictures or text on slides i.e. balance the a class of 20 semester one Diploma in Electrical Engineering content so learners will not experience overload students were selected as the subjects for this study. These of information which later will hinder them from students took DUE101 Communicative English 1 course, responding towards the material. where oral presentation is one of the topics included in the syllabus content set by the Curriculum Division of Malaysian vi- Redundancy effect: Instructor should place extra Polytechnic. caution while choosing types of modes to be added on slides e.g. animated gif. does not go (ii) The design of the Designed Animated Teaching Aids well with video as it will overlap with the (DATA) movement in the video thus affect learners learning outcome. Prior to the data gathering procedure, the researchers developed the animated teaching aid for English oral Both above are the basic guidelines followed by the researcher presentation class. This teaching aid was coined as DATA and to design and develop the named designed animated teaching it was created with powtoon.com, an animated presentation aids or DATA. tool software available online. The teaching aid was designed based on the syllabus content of DUE101 Communicative d. Integrating Designed Animated Teaching Aids (DATA) English 1, made available by the Curriculum Division on in the classroom Malaysian Polytechnics. Since there are many topics to be Technology approaches in the language learning process covered while the objective of this study is to focus only on oral presentation, for the purpose of this study, only planning started with the introduction of multimedia in instructional and organising of oral presentation subtopic was chosen. The classroom planning. It is fast accepted by educators and creation of the teaching aids was underpinned by the guidelines superseded the conventional handouts and blackboard provided by Howard, Jocelyn and Major [6]. Once completed, practices because it promotes active learning which exercises the teaching aid was then uploaded online to youtube.com, and the ‘higher-order thinking skills of the students’ [8]. The the access to it has been made public where it can be viewed by arrival of internet in the early 1990s has then made integrating anybody without any restriction. multimedia in teaching possible in every ways. Many online sources have provided free access to educators, language (iii) The data gathering instrument instructors and teachers to design teacher-made interactive An instrument was designed to collect the data needed for digital materials for classes. That is to say, teachers could sign up for online DATA software for free and customize their this study. The instrument, which was adapted from Lilia, lesson by creating their own animated audio-visual aids. These Ruhizan and Azaman [9] had three sections; Section 1: online teaching aids are developed to support the curriculum Demographic information, Section 2: Students’ views on the rather than to dominate it [8]. use of animation created with Powtoon.com as the teaching aids in English oral presentation class; and Section 3: Students’ The use of animation in classroom would be able to make overall views on the use of the designed animated teaching aids learning experience become more meaningful to the students. (DATA) in English oral presentation class. Basic demographic When the lessons are interactive, students tend to be more information like student gender and their experience in doing cooperative and focus. As suggested by Mathew, Nalliveettil oral presentation were included in Section 1. A sub-section on & Ali Odeh [8] this can make the lesson more meaningful and students’ preference on the type of teaching aids used by the relevant. lecturers in their class was also included together in the questionnaire. For Section 2, 14 items with 5-likert scale Interactivity appears to be an important component of a options were included as to assess their general overall views learning experience involving DATA. The general assumption of Powtoon.com as a tool to design animated teaching/ about designed animated audio-visual teaching aids is that the presentation aids. While for Section 3, 9 items with 5-likert combination of audio, visual and text can offer an enhanced scale options were also given as to gauge subjects’ view on the way of presenting information than any of these media can alone. As in the case of DATA, by viewing the audio-visual presentation, learners could actively interact with the Page 3 of 6

appropriateness of the content of DATA. The questionnaire Table 2: Respondents’ preference on the type of teaching was written in English and it was translated into Bahasa aids to be used by their lecturers. Malaysia as to ease the respondents’ comprehension. The data gathered was then analysed by using Statistical Package for Types of teaching aids Frequency Percent Social Science (SPSS) software, where the result were then generated. Handouts 3 15.0 (iv) The data collection procedure Slides 4 20.0 The data collection procedure of the study was divided into Animation 7 35.0 two parts. Those parts are (a) the application or viewing of the Video 4 20.0 designed teaching or presentation aid (DATA); and (b) the data Others 2 10.0 collection procedure. For Part (a), with some necessary 20 100.0 planning, students were given the chance to view DATA. The Total url for the teaching aid created was also given to them as to let them watch, understand and grasp the content of the material c) Respondents’ views on the designed animated teaching aids better on their own. After that, for part (b), the survey (DATA) used. questionnaires were distributed to them as to collect the data needed for the study. Once completed, those questionnaires The findings for this part are grouped under two aspects. were collected and then analysed by using SPSS. The findings Those aspects are based on research questions set for this of the study will be described further in section IV below. study. IV FINDINGS The first aspect under this part focuses on students’ perception of the use animation created with Powtoon.com as The findings gathered are as presented below. They are an animated teaching/ presentation aids in English oral grouped under three parts. They are (a) demographic presentation class. information; (b) respondents’ preference on the type of teaching aids to be used by their lecturers in their class, (c) Table 3: Students’ view on the use the animation created respondents’ views on the designed animated teaching aid (DATA) used. with Powtoon.com as the teaching or presentation aids in English oral presentation class. Descriptive Statistics a) Demographic findings Item Mean Std. Deviation A class of twenty semester one Diploma in Electrical Information introduced in 1.60 .681 Engineering students (n=20) were selected as the respondents for this study. From Table 1 below, majority of them were the animation is able to female (60%) and most of the respondents have had presented an oral presentation before (85%). 1 relate to the concept of Table 1: Respondents’ gender & their experience in oral organization of points for presentation (n=20) English oral presentation. 2 The graphic is appropriate 1.80 1.005 and easy to view. Gender Experience in OP Animation used is able to 1.60 .681 Mean Male Female Yes No enhance students’ interest 3 in learning the organization f 8 12 17 3 of points for English oral % 40.0 60.0 85.0 15.0 presentation. 4 The animation is as in the 2.05 .605 real situations. b) Respondents’ preference on the type of teaching aid to be used by their lecturers in their class Animation used is able to 1.80 .616 enhance students’ 5 confidence in learning When it comes to the type of teaching aids preferred by the students to be used by their lecturers in their class, one third of English oral presentation. the respondents prefer their lecturers to use animation as teaching aids compared to other types. Accumulatively, most 6 Learning objectives are 1.70 .801 of the respondents prefer some kind of dynamic teaching aids clearly stated like slides, animation and videos, where these three types carried 75% of the overall responses given by them. The data 7 Students’ prior knowledge 1.75 .639 is presented in Table 2 below. is clearly stated 8 Information shown through 1.60 .681 the animation is able to Page 4 of 6

explain the concept of aids is able to promote students’ interest to learn organization of points for English oral presentation. English oral presentation. This animation can be used 1.65 .988 This teaching/ presentation 1.85 .587 9 by the lecturers in teaching 5 aids helps students to understand the concept of and learning session. The animation is able to 1.65 .745 English oral presentation. focus students’ attention on The content of this 1.90 .718 10 learning the organization of 6 teaching/ presentation aids can be integrated in the points for English oral presentation. lesson appropriately. Animation used can 1.85 .489 The content of this 1.95 .686 11 enhance students’ 7 teaching/ presentation aid is appropriate to the given motivation in learning oral presentation. time. 12 Animation used is able to 1.95 .605 The content of this 1.80 .616 achieve learning objectives teaching/ presentation aid Animation used is able to 1.65 .671 8 is appropriate to be used during learning and enhance students' 13 understanding on the teaching session in the concept of organization of classroom. points for English oral 9 I like this animated 1.75 .716 teaching/ presentation aid. presentation. Animation used is able to 1.65 .489 promote students Based on Table 4, it was found that the Designed Animated Teaching Aid (DATA) created with Powtoon.com is highly 14 understanding on the appropriate with the mean score between 1.65 to 1.95. This concept of organization of indicates that the participants consider DATA to be appropriate and it is seen as an effective learning and teaching aid. points for English oral Findings reported in this study also illustrate that the presentation. participants gave encouraging feedback pertaining to the designed Powtoon.com animation to be used in the English Based on Table 3, it was found that the students’ perceived oral presentation class. That is, the findings revealed that the the designed Powtoon animation as highly appropriate with majority of the participants indicated either “Agree” or mean score between 1.60 to 2.05. This indicates that the “Strongly Agree” that the designed Powtoon.com animation students consider the animation created with Powtoon.com to was able to improve their performance in English oral be an appropriate teaching or presentation tool in English oral presentation and helps them in understanding the concept of presentation class. English oral presentation. Table 4: Overall view on the use of the designed animated Animation has been long used various disciplines to deliver instructional material. According to Lowe [10] as teaching aids (DATA) in English oral presentation class. reported in Hwang, Tam, Lam and Lam [11], animations have the potential to serve both affective function and cognitive Descriptive Statistics function. Affective function refers to portraying things in a humorous, spectacular, or bizarre way so that learners will be Item Mean Std. attracted to pay additional attention on the learning materials Deviation and motivated to learn. On the other hand, the cognitive function refers to the clear presentation of dynamic matters in This teaching/ presentation 1.70 .571 which might be abstract and difficult that can allow learners to understand in an easier way. 1 aids can improve students’ performance in English Thus, this designed Powtoon.com animation or DATA were able to explain the component of oral presentation skills oral presentation. while sustaining students’ interest in the lesson at the same time. This teaching/ presentation 1.65 .671 2 aids can promote students’ confidence in learning English oral presentation. This teaching/ presentation 1.75 .550 3 aids can increase students’ motivation in learning English oral presentation. 4 This teaching/ presentation 1.80 .696 Page 5 of 6

V CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION and Innovation 2014, 11-12 November, Johor Bharu, Malaysia. This initial study in assessing students’ views and [3] Salmiza, A.R., Suhaily, A. & Muhammad Zaki, Y. “In- feedbacks on the use of the Designed Animated Teaching Aid service trainings (INSETS) for English lecturers: An or DATA which was created with animated presentation tool Exploratory Study in Malaysian Polytechnics.” software, Powtoon.com has shown that students are positive Proceedings of the International Seminar on about its application. Students welcomed the use of Language Teaching ISeLT 2015, 4-5 February, powtoon.com as the tool to create animated teaching aids. Bangi, Malaysia. Since the students prefer dynamic teaching aids to be used in [4] Harlini Khairuddin. “An evaluation of the English for the classroom, further implementation or integration of such Specific Purposes curriculum in a Malaysian teaching aids is seen beneficial and it would leave positive Polytechnic.” (2011) Unpublished master thesis. impacts on students’ performance. Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia [5] Bull, Prince Hycy. \"Cognitive Constructivist Theory of The findings of this study is seen relevant to the educators, Multimedia: Designing Teacher-Made Interactive -in this case the lecturers-, practitioners and material Digital.\" Creative Education 4, no. 09 (2013): 614. designers, and it is not only restricted to the used population or [6] Howard, Jocelyn, and Jae Major. \"Guidelines for subjects. It is applicable to any institution which has oral designing effective English language teaching presentation as part of their syllabus content. In fact, materials.\" The TESOLANZ Journal 12 (2004): 50-58. generally, the finding from this study can also be used by [7] Mayer, Richard E. \"Multimedia learning.\" Psychology anybody who is interested in designing and using teaching or of Learning and Motivation 41 (2002): 85-139. presentation aids. This is because from this initial study, it [8] Mathew, Nalliveettil George, and Ali Odeh Hammoud was found that students accepted positively the use of Alidmat. \"A study on the usefulness of audio-visual powton.com in their English oral presentation class. The aids in EFL classroom: Implications for effective parties involved could further explore, design more and make instruction.\" International Journal of Higher full use Powtoon.com as their teaching aids. The researchers Education 2, no. 2 (2013): p86. would recommend DATA to be fully utilised and use [9] Lilia Halim, Ruhizan M. Yasin , & Azaman Ishar wherever applicable. (2012) CAMED: An Innovative Communication Tool in Teaching Engineering Drawing; WSEAS For future usage or study, it is recommended that this TransactionS on Information Science and Applications. study should be conducted on a larger scale as to see how it Issue 2, Volume 9, February 2012 fares on larger scope. Further study of the practitioners’ feedback, or the lecturers should also be done as to get the [10] Lowe, Richard K. \"Animation and learning: Value for point of comparison, and as to get the views from both users’ money.\" In Beyond the comfort zone: Proceedings of sides. An experimental research method can also be used as to the 21st ASCILITE Conference, pp. 558-561. 2004. really gauge the impact of the designed animated teaching aid (DATA) on the students, especially in their English oral [11] Hwang, Isabel, Michael Tam, Shun Leung Lam, and presentation performance. It is hoped that this small scale Paul Lam. \"Review of Use of Animation as a research would initiate more innovation in teaching and Supplementary Learning Material of Physiology learning processes in English oral presentation class, where Content in Four Academic Years.\" Electronic Journal animation can be further use as the teaching aids in helping of e-Learning 10, no. 4 (2012): 368-377. Electronic the students to perform better. Journal of e-Learning, 10(4), 368-377. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The researchers are indebted to all those who participated and contributed to this study, especially the gatekeepers, the class lecturers and the participants, as well as those who supported to the success of this study. Their cooperation and deeds will always be remembered and appreciated. REFERENCES [1] Rautrao, S. “Significance of Audio-visual Aids in Teaching English” Indian Streams Research Journal, 2(9), 1-5.2012 [2] Muhammd Zaki, Y. & Izaham Shah, I. “Integrating Reflective Video Journal in English Oral Presentation:Immediate Effects on Students’ Performance.” National Conference on Research Page 6 of 6