Mention animation to most people and they will think of cartoons. However animation can be used in many different ways to inform, as well as enhance and enrich learning.

This particular animation from CNET shows the history of the iPhone.

You can find similar animations across the web for the whole curriculum. There are also much simpler animations available, these for example show the inner workings of two types of engine.

Animations can often be clearer than videos and of course as with the engine examples they can show stuff in a way a video never could!

You could of course just link to an animation, but the advantage of embedding an animation into the VLE is that you can combine it with text, or questions. A link will take the learner away from the VLE, whereas embedding an animation into the VLE allows you to enhance the animation with extra content or questions that turns the content into a learning activity.