How a Professor of Dance used Krikey AI Dance Animations to inspire students

Summary

Krikey AI inspired Elon University Professor of Dance, Keshia Wall, to transform her West African dance class curriculum. For the 2024 classes, she will be introducing animation as a new medium in her classroom, using Krikey AI's Video to Animation tools.

• Description: Elon University Professor Keshia Wall was seeking an AI Animation solution to help her build out class curriculum and educational materials for her West African dance classes. She needed a way to engage her students beyond the classroom beyond traditional video recordings.
• Krikey AI Features used: AI Video to Animation process, script writing, lip synced dialogue, custom 3D Avatars, camera angles, backgrounds, Lighting, MP4 Export

"During the pandemic, I realized that I am the book but my students can't take me home. Over the last few years, I had to begin searching for a new way to engage and teach my students. Krikey AI Animation is a great way for me to engage my students beyond the classroom and have them retain information from my classes." ~ Professor Keshia Wall, Elon University

Challenge

• Teaching dance through the new medium of animation
• Capturing the nuances of West African dance moves respectfully
• Editing animation videos with lesson plans for students to watch at home

Solution

• Krikey AI's 3D video editor tool was an all-in-one solution that required no technical skill or prior animation knowledge to get started
• Krikey AI has an AI Video to Animation tool that enabled Professor Wall to directly convert video to animation within a few minutes
• Krikey AI enabled Professor Wall to translate her lesson plans and quickly edit videos with unique characters, backgrounds and dialogue for her classes

Time and Cost

• 2x dance moves can be taught in class when students are able to review these materials in advance
• 30+ hours of re-teaching is saved by using animated video from customized camera angles to teach
• Priceless: The ability to expand the accessibility of this dance form beyond traditionally recorded video to a new medium to engage a broader audience

Inspiration and Creativity with Dance Animations

• Krikey AI became the anchor for Professor Keshia Wall's new book - each chapter will be introduced and closed by an animated avatar that helps students review the material they learned.
• Krikey AI powers the next generation of online learning. Professor Keshia Wall shared that, "The pandemic made me realize the importance of video. We had to go home and couldn't be in the dance studio. I had to record myself at multiple angles and learn how to edit video and audio. It was very challenging. This AI Animation tool gives me more control over the creativity of my lesson plans."
• Krikey AI also supports greater accessibility for people to learn asynchronously and preserve the tradition – not just the dance but also the context and history behind it. As Professor Keshia Wall shared, "People learn in different ways and for some people, learning in the traditional oral method in a classroom is difficult. There are many ways that people absorb material and now I can bring a new medium to my students and increase accessibility of the material."

About the Customer

Professor Keshia Wall is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Elon University. She grew up in North Carolina and earned her undergraduate degree from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, double majoring in dance and African American studies. She also completed a Master of Fine Arts in the Dance degree program at Hollins University, with support from the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company. Professor Keshia Wall teaches West African dance and leads a study abroad program in Ghana. She is also on the Faculty of the African & African-American Studies department. She received a grant from Elon University to pursue this project and build a curriculum for the dance program using Krikey AI Animation tools.

Assistant Professor of Dance Keshia Wall Gee’s “Roots of Rhythm: An Introduction to West African Dance” includes digital music, song tutorials and an animated avatar that guides users through dance moves.

About Krikey AI

Krikey AI Animation tools empower anyone to animate a 3D character in minutes. The character animations can be used in marketing, tutorials, games, films, social media, lesson plans and more. In addition to a video to animation and text to animation AI model, Krikey offers a 3D editor that creators can use to add lip synced dialogue, change backgrounds, facial expressions, hand gestures, camera angles and more to their animated videos. Krikey's AI tools are available online at www.krikey.ai today, on Canva Apps, Adobe Express and on the AWS Marketplace!

The Challenge

These are a few of the challenges Professor Keshia Wall faced before she found Krikey AI Animation tools.

Memory: How Krikey AI helped students remember lessons through dance animations

One of the biggest challenges the students faced was remembering the material taught in class. Professor Keshia Wall would often film herself but it was difficult for her to always produce a high quality video with lighting, camera angles and synced audio. She spent a lot of time re-teaching students at the next class which reduced the number of new dance steps she could teach in each class.

Accessibility: Dance Animations enable more students to access the historical context and tradition of West African Dance

Traditionally, some aspects of West African dance are only taught orally. No notebooks are allowed, no filming is allowed. Songs might be in Wolof or other languages and each class would consist of learning and memorizing a number of different steps. Students had to observe and remember. In her first year of teaching, Professor Wall realized that her classroom was full of students with different learning styles. Compounded by the pandemic, she knew she needed to find a new medium to ensure the preservation of this dance tradition, and she wanted to find a way to do so respectfully.

Respect: How Professor Wall balanced respect for tradition and use of new AI technology to build lesson plans

Professor Wall searched for different video recording solutions and ways to capture her lessons in a respectful way. She knew that in the historical tradition of this dance, the elders wanted to ensure the culture was protected and passed only orally. Professor Keshia Wall used Krikey's AI Animation tools only for specific parts of lecturing or teaching individual dance moves. She sees AI Animation as "not replacing the way we learn, it is an extension of the way we learn. For the deep cultural aspects of this dance tradition, that will never be filmed or animated." The greatest risk is losing the tradition and Professor Wall knew she had to find different ways to engage students and preserve the class in the college curriculum.

The Solution

Here is how Elon University Professor Keshia Wall solved her lesson plan challenge to integrate AI Animation tools into her curriculum.

How Professor Wall found Krikey AI Animation

After a particularly challenging class with students needing lots of re-teaching, Professor Keshia Wall lamented to one of her musicians that she wished there was an tech tool that could help her teach the dance class. Her drummer suggested exploring AI Animation to teach dance. Professor Wall immediately searched AI Animation in Google and found Krikey AI.

She uploaded a video recording of herself dancing and within 5 minutes she had an animated character performing the same dance. She was amazed at the quality, the speed and how easy it was for her to use the Krikey AI Animation tool. Within a 15 minute class break she knew she had stumbled onto a big opportunity. She immediately set out to apply for a grant to access the tool and began experimenting with it.

Saving time and cost with Krikey AI Dance Animations

The Krikey AI Animation tool helps Professor Keshia Wall build lesson plans both for lecturing on historical context but also in teaching specific dance moves. These videos are fun and engaging for students. She has included them in her fall class curriculum as well as an online book she is writing on West African dance traditions. The animated avatars will introduce and close out each chapter of the book as well as teach some dance lessons.

Multiple use cases with Krikey AI Dance Animations

Professor Keshia Wall has found multiple uses for Krikey AI Dance animations – from an ebook to her classroom curriculum to take home materials for students. The animated avatars have become a fun part of her lesson plan process and she looks forward to engaging a greater number of students through this new medium of animation. Bringing new AI technology to the classroom and blending it with the rich tradition of West African dance has been a unique collaboration made possible by the support of a grant from Elon University and initiative taken by Professor Keshia Wall.

How Krikey AI was used to make Dance Animations

Elon University's Professor of Dance, Keshia Wall, used the Krikey AI Animation tool in a number of different ways to create lesson plans with animation for her classes on West African Dance.

AI Video to Animation

Krikey's AI Video to Animation tool empowered Professor Keshia Wall to turn her dance videos into animation in minutes. She could customize a 3D character and then add different backgrounds, camera angles and lighting. The AI video to animation tool translated her dance motions nearly perfectly to the animated character. She did not have to learn any new technical or animation skills. The entire process was done on her web browser at the website: www.krikey.ai

Script and Dialogue

For the lessons that required historical context, Professor Keshia Wall was able to write her own script based on her lesson plans. She could then either record her own voice or choose a Voice AI in 20+ languages to have her custom 3D character speak. The lip sync took just seconds to complete and then she had a talking Avatar video on a customized background. The Krikey AI all-in-one video editor tool includes customized avatars, animations, lip synced dialogue and aesthetic backgrounds.

MP4 Export

Krikey AI's MP4 video export made it easy for Elon University Professor Keshia Wall to export her videos and use them in the classroom, for her online ebook and to send to students as part of their take home materials. Professor Keshia Wall is also eager to explore the possibility of collaborating with other Universities and dance departments through this AI Animation tool.

"Bringing together new AI technology and traditional West African dance through Krikey AI's Animation tools has enabled me to bring a new light to my passion for dance and share it with a broader audience beyond my classroom." ~Professor Keshia Wall, Elon University