Please note: this topic is optional. Please feel free to engage with it as much as your interest and time permit. You can always come back to it later in the course, or investigate it after completing EDDL 5131.
Infographics are a genre of visual communication that has grown in popularity over the last several years. An infographic is more than just a collection of educational graphics. It is a narrative just like any other form of academic communication. The effectiveness of infographics has not been widely studied, but an educated calculation can be made that, if they are created with the principles and purposes established in educational theory and practice, they should be effective in supporting learning.
Like other forms of graphics, infographics can be designed to be distributed online or as a printed poster. If you intend to print your infographic, you should expect to print it in at least legal (8.5 x 14 inches) and with a resolution of 300 pixels per inch (or 300 dpi).
Resources
Abilock, D. & Williams, C. (2014). Recipe for an infographic. Knowledge Quest, 43(2), 46-55.
http://ezproxy.tru.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=99171235&site=ehost-live
Davis, M., & Quinn, D. (2013). Visualizing Text: The New Literacy of Infographics. Reading Today, 31(3), 16-18.
http://ezproxy.tru.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=93288599&site=ehost-live
RRU Inforgraphics: What is an infographic?
http://libguides.royalroads.ca/infographics
Vogelsinger, B. (2014). Inventing inforgraphics: Visual literacy meets written content. Edutopia.
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/infographics-visual-literacy-written-content-brett-vogelsinger
Schrock, K. (2017). Infographics as a creative assessment.
http://www.schrockguide.net/infographics-as-an-assessment.html
Smith, J. (2012). 10 Steps to designing an amazing infographic. Fast Company.
https://www.fastcodesign.com/1670019/10-steps-to-designing-an-amazing-infographic
Balliett, A. (2011). The do’s and don’ts of infographic design. Smashing Magazine.
https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/10/the-dos-and-donts-of-infographic-design/
Easelly. Create and share visual ideas.
https://www.easel.ly/
Piktochart. Easy to use infographic maker.
https://piktochart.com/
Activity 1
Consider a topic within your teaching area that might benefit from an infographic. Use Google Image search to find an existing infographic on your subject (use ‘infographic’ along with your topic in the search).
Examine your infographic and see how it is read. Deconstruct it into individual visual pieces.
Once you have done this, evaluate the each visual against Mayer’s principles of multimedia learning, and Clark and Lyon’s types of graphics.
For Mayer, do these visuals utilize any of Mayer’s principles for reducing extraneous processing, any of his principles for managing essential processing, any of his principles for fostering generative processing?
Which categories of graphic, as described by Clark and Lyon, are found among the visuals in your infographic?
Write a short blog post about your infographic. Include:
- a description of the structure of the infographic,
- a summary of Mayer’s principles that are represented, along with how effective you consider them,
- a list of the graphic types represented and how appropriate they seem, and
- an overall assessment of the impact of the infographic.
Activity 2
Consider possible uses for an infographic in support of your teaching. Design an infographic that will support your teaching, either as a printed poster or as an online image. Use the resources and processes provided on this page to embark on this project. This will be an iterative process – you will develop, evaluate and revise your design as you go. This means that you shouldn’t expect to develop a good infographic in the space of this unit. Expect to work on this over several weeks or perhaps the rest of this course.
Write a blog post about your effort at a stage that seems appropriate to you. Discuss your process and the challenges you have faced and your efforts you have made to overcome them. Include an example of your infographic when you are ready to share it.
Activity 3
Develop a student activity that uses the creation of an infographic as the final product of a unit of study. This might be an individual or group-based activity. Consider how the creation of the infographic might be integrated with the learning in the unit. What scaffolding might be needed to aid in student success? The resources presented here will provide lots of ideas and suggestions on what this might look like.
Create a blog post that includes the instructions you would provide to students for the infographic creation stage of this unit. If you wish, create a sample infographic for the student activity.