Running Head: LEARNING THEORY IN A BLENDED VFX COURSE 1

Learning Theory in a Blended VFX Course

By Rob Campbell

California State University at Monterey Bay

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Table of Contents
Background ......................................................................................................................... 3

Purpose ................................................................................................................................ 3

Learning Context ................................................................................................................ 4

Developing the VFX Artist ............................................................................................. 5

Learning Activities .......................................................................................................... 6

Theoretical Concerns .......................................................................................................... 6

Social Cognitive Theory.................................................................................................. 6

Self Efficacy .................................................................................................................... 7

Motivation ....................................................................................................................... 9

The Online Course Environment................................................................................... 10

Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 11

References ......................................................................................................................... 13
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Background

The Communications Design Major at California State University, Monterey includes

concentrations in Interactive Web Design, Visual Design, and Media & Game Design. In 2015-

2016, an external review of the department found a need for studio courses. The department

responded by making room for 1- and 2-unit courses that expand learning opportunities.

The Media & Game Design concentration is led by Dr. Krzysztof Pietroszek. He sees a

need for students to learn how to apply motion graphics and visual effects in the game

environment to round out game design skills. Specifically, he wants students to be able to create

splash scenes for mobile games and cutscenes for 3D games.

A splash screen is used as a placeholder to indicate the app or program is loading. It also

serves to deliver branding and perhaps other information to the user. These include graphic

designs, type, and may include animation or special effects. A cutscene is used in 3D console

type games to enlarge the narrative represented by the game. These include action, dialogue, and

information that may motivate or inform the player as well as engage their imagination in the

narrative. These are moments in the game when the player is not interacting with the controller,

but observing a scene more passively.

In terms of the Game Design program, students learn how to create games in Unity and

Adobe Animate (formerly Flash). However, there is at this time nothing offered that teaches

them how to create game splash screens and cut scenes, leaving a significant gap in experience.

With preparation in Adobe After Effects, these gaps will be filled.

Purpose

The purpose of this course is to offer enrichment for game design students, offering

experience in creating additional elements in game design and developing more breadth in
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experience and software tools. Students will be able to attend to branding in game design by

creating splash screens and expand storyline in 3D games by creating cut scenes that engage the

imagination of players.

It is essential to note that this must be more than a simple software course. Many of the

answers are available on the internet through YouTube and other free or paid tutorials. What this

course adds to that is a collaborative environment that challenges students to go beyond learning

a set of techniques and learn to find and combine solutions.

Students will not have direct and in-person access to the instructor, and in some cases, to

fellow learners. The bulk of the course is offered as an online course. It is plausible that some

students may take the course as a distance learning opportunity from locations other than the

greater Monterey Bay area. In order to facilitate work conditions, student collaboration will

utilize online methods such as email, forums, and video conferencing with each other as needed

and with the instructor.

Beyond learning basic and intermediate VFX design, students in this course need to learn

how to:

Expand their skill set, both independently and collaboratively

Apply problem solving solutions

Dissect examples for possible solutions to implementation

Journal solutions for future use and refinement

Learning Context

Students will work independently using Adobe After effects and Unity 3D. The course

material and interactions between students, groups, and the instructor will be conducted in

CSUMBs iLearn install of Moodle.

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The virtual learning environment can lend itself to community and collaboration, but

there is also the possibility for students to slide into isolation and miss the benefits of

collaboration. How the course is framed and delivered will determine the balance of individual

vs. collaborative work. Leaning too heavily in one direction or the other has the potential of

weakening hands-on experience on one hand or reducing collaborative outcomes on the other.

Developing the VFX Artist

The Adobe After Effects interface and effects process is fairly complex. Once basic

exercises have been completed to teach students basic motion graphics, as they will use in the

splash screen work, they can begin learning how to control and combine effects. In many ways

this part of the process can be likened to learning a recipe and then experimenting with the

ingredients.

VFX artists utilize a variety of simulations and effects to create lighting, texture, and

atmospheric effects. A single simulation, such as Particle Playground, can be used to create rain,

fire, dust, smoke, or other particle based visual effects. Each effect or simulation within After

Effects is influence by a number of controls that change the appearance, movement, velocity, and

color. Additional effects can be added in to develop the effect further.

As a VFX artist becomes more proficient, they begin to experiment with the controls and

combinations. This is the goal for learners. Once given training in some of the effects, it is

desirable that they branch out and experiment individually to achieve results. By collaborating

with peers to analyze tutorial materials, finished results, and desired effects, more possibilities

and options will be discovered than would occur in independent work.

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Learning Activities

Learning activities will consist of the following kinds of work:

1. Individual tutorials focused on technical processes in After Effects; initially exact

methods that can be combined into more complex units, then later the more

complex processes themselves. These would inform student projects such as the

splash screen logo and cutscene. These would occur with video tutorials and

eLearning products.

2. Individual effects analysis; written dissections of methods used in VFX sequences

in film and game environments, including links to possible solutions,

explanations, and tutorials.

3. Collaborative effects analysis and design.

Theoretical Concerns

The main theoretical concerns are related to how self-efficacy, collaboration, and

motivation are influenced by online learning.

Overall, the theoretical support for this training rests on Banduras Social Cognitive

theory. Further support in the literature comes from Constructivism.

Social Cognitive Theory

In an online course one might consider students will work in isolation. However, creating

a social dimension of the learning allows ideas to develop through the synergy between students

developing various special effects and with different creative visions for what they want to do

with those effects. The goal of using social cognitive theory as a foundation is to foster

interactions between learners that will create experiences in learning and knowing that go
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beyond the instructors knowledge and that of specific learning materials used in the course. In

addition, developing such collaborative work prepares students for successful collaboration in

the games and effects sectors of the workforce.

Specifically, the concerns to be addressed apply to how to create interactions and

collaboration on technologically complex subjects in an online environment that may be

perceived by some learners as complex and technological. In the end, the process, the content

and the work to be done by students must address the needs of learners who may be diverse in

language, interest, culture, experience, and technological self-efficacy.

Self Efficacy

Self-efficacy can be explained as the way a learner perceives their own ability to learn or

perform a given task. Artino points out that "Anyone who has ever completed an online course

understands that learning on the web requires considerable self-direction" (Artino, 2008). This is

true when using on online learning environment (OLE) in more traditional curricula that may

involve research and writing. This course adds an additional, more complex layer of

technological demands by learning a new software.

Bandura, Caprara, Fida, Vecchione, Del Bove, Vecchio, and Barbanelli (2008) point out

that students with high efficacy for self-regulated learning are the ones who make the best use

of Internet-based instruction (Debowski, Wood, & Bandura,2001; Joo, Bong, & Choi, 2000)"

(Bandura et al., 2008, p. 525). It therefore benefits the learner for the instructor to look for ways

to develop and build on self-efficacy, often because different courses may require different kinds

of self-efficacy depending on the content and method of delivery.

It is important not to confuse student interest with student ability and assume students

know how to function in the online learning environment set up for a given class. Prior,
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Mazanov, Meacheam, Heaslip, & Hanson (2016) point out that "Since digital literacy involves

understanding how to use information technology to productively locate information and to

understand it, a positive approach for educators is to provide ample opportunities to develop this

capability (Prior, Mazanov, Meacheam, Heaslip, & Hanson, 2016). Under social cognitive

theory, modeling of how to use technology to extend learning through effective searches, sharing

results, and peer collaboration should be demonstrated by the instructor. Prior el al. go on to

suggest that specific structures within the learning environment help develop student self-

efficacy. There must be opportunities to observe not only techniques in after effects but how to

use the LMS and how to problem solve.

There is also an important connection between student attitude and self-efficacy. Prior et

al. (2016) point out that influencing student attitude contributes to students beliefs about what

they are capable of doing. This is where the socializing structures of the LMS come to bear.

Feedback from the instructor should be positive, solution building, and inclusive. Thought

processes about challenges, solutions, and success are influenced by instructor and peer

modeling and contribute to student learning. Helping students through roadblocks in

development at the whole-class level models problem solving and allows learners to practice this

with each other.

A study of high school and middle school students found a connection between self-

efficacy and effective use of online instruction (Bandura et al., 2008). One of the goals of this

instruction in After Effects is that students will be able to use effective keywords to locate

additional resources, and to then be able to borrow pieces of other tutorials as needed to develop

and enhance their own effects. In addition indicating what sources the used to create their own

effect in the end. To arrive at such a goal, modeling for After Effects techniques as well as use of
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online solutions must start out with clear and specific steps but gradually reduce detail and

eventually allow more student choice in technique and specific processes used. In so doing, the

efficacy developed early on in the course is added onto as new techniques are identified and

reused.

For example, teaching students to use After Effects to move a graphic object across the

screen teaches them to operate transform controls in the timeline. In further exercises they add

effects and learn where to find controls that adjust effects. Eventually they identify techniques

used by more experienced users and make choices about how to combine various visual elements

and effects to create designs of their own.

Motivation

Course design influences learner motivation. Again, this comes back to developing self-

efficacy. Bandura & Schunk (1981) state that goals should be set near enough to the current

knowledge of the learner that they are attainable, and that these subgoals should lead to larger

future ones (Bandura & Schunk, 1981, p. 587). For example, a learner may hold the goal of

creating a scene with many complex special effects such as explosions, smoke, and rain hitting

puddles on the ground. This is a worthy distal goal, but is too far in the future and is made up

of many stepping stones. Rather than focus on such a grandiose vision, the learner, guided by the

course content, should focus on more immediate learning objectives, such as controlling the

movement, velocity, and turbulence of particles within a given particle generator. After some

level of mastery has been attained, the learner can apply this to a variety of uses, and even

several VFX compositions within a given cutscene.

The studies of Kosvich, Flake, & Hulleman (2017) indicate a connection between utility

value and expectancy, which further influences motivation and effort (Kosovich, Flake, &
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Hulleman, 2017). In order to properly develop the utility of VFX development in Adobe After

Effects, learners can research different methods of creating VFX by other Unity 3D designers, as

well as developing an idea of the strengths and weaknesses of the various options available.

Bradford (2011) points out three contributors to satisfaction for student learning. First,

awareness, which relates to the student being able to see how the course works, receiving

adequate direction and indication of success, and a sense of the organization of the course.

Second, challenge, which allows the student to develop satisfaction from an appropriate level of

difficulty as well as having access to ways to extend learning. Finally, engagement, in which the

learner connects with others in the course, is able to see the impact of the material on their own

academic and career focus, and recognizes the value of communication and discussion as well as

the input of the instructor (Bradford, 2011).

The Online Course Environment

Pajares (1996) explains Banduras social determinism as a combination of personal

factorsbehaviorand environmental influences (Pajares, 1996, p. 544) that interact with each

other. He goes on to state that learners can be viewed as both a cause and an effect of their

learning environments and systems. In this respect the environment created through the face to

face days and in LMS interactions can propel learning as well since they contribute to the

environment of the course through individual contributions, and will receive the benefit of input

from other students.

The instructor establishes structured opportunities to interact and establishing norms for

interaction, thereby having a greater influence than the students; yet the dialog will inevitably

move in directions not expected or planned for when students have new learning difficulties and

discoveries. For example, a student maybe challenged by an attempt to create a specific effect
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and may exhibit frustration in the online forum. Peers may introduce suggestions and in so doing

expand the field of possible uses of software.

The value in collaborative online work is also explored by Fung (2004), albeit with a

leaning toward social constructivism. Fung points out that such learning environments

encourages learners to develop their own knowledge base after considering a variety of sources.

In the process content specific critical thinking skills are engaged. Interactions, questions, and

challenges must be fairly well defined and explained in order for learners to engage fully and

respond within the online group (Fung, 2004).

Under this influence, VFX students would be posed with a challenge, such as defining a

workflow and series of effects and settings to create rain in a cutscene, including puddles and

water droplets on vehicles, structures, and landscape. They would then research possibilities,

weigh best practices, and report back to the group. The critical thinking is expressly focused on

the most efficient tools and techniques that create effects that fit into a given scene.

It is important to note, in this example, that actually creating the effect might take more

time than reporting back. Learners may wish to practice some of the subskills in the process, but

the exercise is designed for research and evaluation of specific tools and techniques. By using

this approach, developing VFX artists learn more than they would if they were simply to follow

a given set of steps to create a given effect with set end results.

Conclusion

In examining theoretical constructs for a course, one must focus on the goals for

interaction and identify how these will serve the specific content learning. While the course

content is related to specific software use, learner development is about developing how to think

and interact with other VFX artists and game designers. The same design for online interaction in
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a blended course can be used in other content settings, since the interactions are related to critical

thinking and collaboration.

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References

Artino, A. R. J. (2008). Promoting Academic Motivation and Self-Regulation: Practical

Guidelines for Online Instructors. Tech Trends, 52(3), 3745.

Bandura, A., Caprara, G. V., Fida, R., Vecchione, M., Del Bove, G., Vecchio, G. M., &

Barbaranelli, C. (2008). Longitudinal analysis of the role of perceived self-efficacy for

self-regulated learning in academic continuance and achievement. Journal of Educational

Psychology, 100(3), 525534. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.100.3.525

Bandura, A., & Schunk, D. H. (1981). Cultivating competence, self-efficacy, and intrinsic

interest through proximal self-motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,

41(3), 586.

Bradford, G. R. (2011). A relationship study of student satisfaction with learning online and

cognitive load: Initial results. Internet and Higher Education, 14, 217226.

Fung, Y. (2004). Collaborative online learning: interaction patterns and limiting factors. Open

Learning, 19(2), 135149. https://doi.org/10.1080/0268051042000224743

Kosovich, J. J., Flake, J. K., & Hulleman, C. S. (2017). Short-term motivation trajectories: A

parallel process model of expectancy-value. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 49,

130139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2017.01.004

Pajares, F. (1996). Self-Efficacy Beliefs in Academic Settings. Review of Educational Research,

66(4), 543. https://doi.org/10.2307/1170653

Prior, D. D., Mazanov, J., Meacheam, D., Heaslip, G., & Hanson, J. (2016). Attitude, digital

literacy and self efficacy: Flow-on effects for online learning behavior. The Internet and

Higher Education, 29, 9197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2016.01.001