Whiteboard Animations for Flipped Classrooms in a Common Core Science General Education Course

Abstract

Whiteboard animation, an engaging tool for teaching and learning, consists of a series of hand-drawing illustrations with voice-over narration to explain complex and abstract ideas. Our team had produced four short whiteboard animations tailor-made for a common core science general education (GE) course. This study aims at evaluating the effectiveness of using these whiteboard animations for flipped classrooms in the common core science GE course. The pre-tutorial survey showed that students who watched the animations got significantly higher average marks in the quizzes at the beginning of the tutorials (p<0.001). The post-tutorial feedback survey indicated that the whiteboard animations attracted 67% of students to watch the animations. For students who watched the animations, over 86% of them reported that the animations raised their interest in the issues discussed in the tutorial classes, and learning materials in the form of whiteboard animation were more interesting than lecture videos; more than 90% of the students agreed the whiteboard animations were helpful in (i) understanding the assigned readings, (ii) clarifying the concepts of the discussed issues, and (iii) gaining the related knowledge before the tutorial. We concluded that whiteboard animation is an effective and engaging tool for flipped classrooms in the common core science GE course.