Gone in a Flash
Flashing lights, music, images fading in and out, talking heads, spinning logos… How much is too much? Well, I personally think it depends on how well it complements the content, and if the content is of high instructional design quality.
There are 3 categories I am speaking of in this article: animations, transitions, and sound effects. I’ve broken down the examples for each below:
Animations: Moving objects, animated intros, on-click animations with images, animated activities, such as Flash Cards or Jeopardy games.
Transitions: slide/page transitions with effects such as Blinds, Wipe, Fade, etc….
Sound effects: a Whoosh or Chime sound as each slide appears or a sound effect when a text box or image is activated (rolled over or clicked). Oh, and don’t forget music and music stingers.
So how much is too much? Well, I definitely have personal development guidelines on these items. Not only do I keep intros at the beginning only of modules, but I limit animations to approx. every 10 slides. I also limit transitions to a few for every 50-slide module. As far as sound effects, I would never use a sound effect on every slide. I did one time use a whoosh sound for all Knowledge Check activities within the module. There were 10, out of a total of 60 slides.
I do also use sound effects to enhance very specific interactions. For example, when I created an interactivity for the learner to click the power button on an old-style movie projector to display the text on the projector screen, I used a sound effect of an old projector running for about 5 seconds and then faded it out. I like to use Audacity (a free tool) for touching up audio.
Music is great for the intro, and a 6 second stinger is great for transitioning to a new topic. Again, in moderation is the key.
Here is my golden rule for Flash. If it is distracting from the content and I myself am getting agitated during the review and QA stage, it is too much. Flash should enhance the content and not cover it up. Every 10 slides is a good rule of thumb.
When all is said and done, if you are on the client side and not the learner side and are searching for an e-Learning vendor, remember this, Flash is over in the blink of an eye, but content stays forever. You should be paying for quality content that stays with the learner and gives you RESULTS in the end. Until next time…
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