Animation as an Aid for Higher Education Teaching in Kenya: The Case of Africa Nazarene University

Abstract

Higher education worldwide is increasingly becoming digitized through online pedagogical platforms. In Kenya, the desire to go digital is one of the key agendas of the current government. This vision is to be achieved through provision of free laptops for all new class one pupils in public primary schools and development of techno cities. This paper is a product of an action research that was conducted at African Nazarene University using questionnaires as instruments of data collection. Thirty students from two departments and eleven facilitators/ lecturers from seven departments were selected at Africa Nazarene University's main and town campuses and formed the study sample. The paper examines the potential use of animation medium in supporting teaching and learning in Kenya for higher education. This is based on the premise that Computer animation has great potential to provide visual communication aids since it is interactive and could be used to create anything imaginable. Grounding their discussion on selected tenets of Constructivism, the authors purpose to determine the perception of students and facilitators in regard to the use of animation in teaching and learning at Africa Nazarene University. They also go deeper and seek to determine the readiness of students and facilitators in regard to the use of animation in teaching and learning at the institution of higher learning. From the findings, this paper observes that there is little employment of animation and other multimedia aid for higher education at Africa Nazarene University. To address this incongruity, the researchers recommend that institutions of higher learning should make an effort towards ensuring that students and facilitators are provided with the necessary equipment to enhance use of animation. Once implemented, this new technology will help higher learning institutions reduce on use of paper and white board/ black board facilities and this will, in turn, lead to improved output. Furthermore, the use of animation as a teaching aid is environmental-friendly, interactive, and sustainable.