Teaching animation with other subject knowledge: appraising student attitudes towards eight components of the technical syllabus

Animation is a multimedia tool. New user‐friendly software enables the teaching of the core skills of animation in a few hours. Thus, animation can be taught as part of another subject. This study explored student attitudes toward eight components of the technical syllabus: editing avatars and sets, sound and photos, managing complex navigational arrays, cameras, file formats and character movement, and coordinating multiple tracks. Questionnaires were used to gain before‐lab, in‐lab and after‐lab quantitative attitude data. Appraisal analysis offered a detailed exploration of attitudinal lexico grammar attached to the eight technical components. Emotion, experience and identity emerged as significant elements of positive attitudes towards visual editing. Negative responses were strongest for managing character movement and coordinating multiple tracks. These also show a realistic sense of the learning challenge. Suggestions are made for sequencing components of the technical syllabus, and exercises to use in teaching components students find difficult.