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The use of pictures and graphs is not a new one to education. Throughout the years, printed books all the way to websites have used visuals to appeal to their reader and make their work more engaging. In recent years, there has been a rise in infographic use on websites, training, and lesson planning. Infographics refer to the idea of creating a visual picture of an idea, condensing the information into short chunks of visually appealing information that is easy for the reader to understand. Infographics not only provide visual aspects to your digital writing, they also help learners see the information in manageable chunks to help show the essential information. Although it seems quite easy for a reader to look at an infographic and process the subsequent information, it actually requires steps for your brain to comprehend the information. “To process an infographic, readers must hold words that are often incomplete and scattered while integrating them with adjacent figures to construct a micro-structured representation.” (Liu & Wu, 2023, p. 2336). While these steps may seem complicated, they happen quickly and lead to strong reading comprehension of the material. Liu and Wu further researched the phenomenon, concluding, “that if readers possess a better capacity to store and handle visual and spatial information, they tend to make a great cognitive effort in reading infographics.” (Liu & Wu, 2023, p. 2336).
Many teachers use infographics in their classroom. Often, infographics can be used to represent social studies or science topics. This allows for bite sized information that is easy for students to process, take notes on, and appeals to the visual learning style. Infographics are also highly popular in training sessions. Leaders can break up their presentations with visually appealing infographics that present the important information for learners without all the superfluous words that can bog down a learner.
As a trainer or teacher, it is important to become acquainted with different methods of creating infographics to enhance their presentations. According to the book, Digital Writing: A Guide to Writing for Social Media and the Web, “it is important to cultivate the skills of the visual and audio world - photography, videography, editing, and graphic design as well as the elusive “aesthetic eye” or “eye for design”- in order to succeed in the digital space.” (Lawrence, 2022, p. 109) In order to reach all learners, teachers and trainers have to meet the multiple learning styles that their learners may exhibit. A large number of students respond to the visual learning style, which means that teachers must become comfortable with creating infographics to help these students learn. “One of the biggest hurdles that students and professionals face in breaking into writing-intensive careers is overcoming the obstacle of learning seemingly complex design software.” (Lawrence, 2022, p. 109)
Creating an infographic for the first time can be overwhelming for teachers. It can seem daunting if you are not accustomed to creating graphics or visuals when teaching. Fortunately there are some great websites and programs that will help you create an infographic quickly and easily. Programs such as Canva, Adobe Education Exchange, and Visme are just some of the websites that allow users to create infographics using easy to use templates.
While many teachers and trainers focus on the material being conveyed to their students and learners, it is also equally important to focus on creating visually appealing presentations with easy to understand infographics. This allows for teachers to reach as many learners as possible and to create bite-sized information in a visually appealing format! Below you will find an example of an infographic I created to help parents in my classroom go over multiplication strategies with their children.
References
Lawrence, D. (2022). Digital writing: A guide to writing for social media and the web. Broadview Press.
The information that you put forward in your blog is very insightful. I never thought about how infographics are often more eye catching and can look very busy with images and words but somehow it works in our brains to help us retain the information that is trying to be conveyed. I have to work on this aspect myself. Like you shared from the text, “it is important to cultivate the skills of the visual and audio world - photography, videography, editing, and graphic design as well as the elusive “aesthetic eye” or “eye for design”- in order to succeed in the digital space.” (Lawrence, 2022)
ReplyDeleteReferences:
ReplyDeleteLawrence, D. (2022). Digital writing: A guide to writing for social media and the web. Broadview Press.
Laura,
ReplyDeleteI love using infographics in science education! You’re right that they provide information in easy-to-understand snippets. Lawrence (2022) summarized this beautifully when he wrote “We are visual creatures as much as we are textual creatures” (p. 109). Creating infographics to present material, like your multiplication graphic is one way to tap into this visual side of humanity. I also like to have middle schoolers create their own infographics to share their learning. Not only do they get to have a little more fun than they would if writing a paper, but they also get to hone some of the 21st century skills they’ll need as future professionals. Going further, educators can also have students take their infographics and share them via collaborative outlets, such as Wakelet, Pinterest, Instagram, or Padlet. In a research study regarding the use of social media among university students, Sivakumar et al. found that when social media was used in moderation, there were “more opportunities for personal and professional growth, improved engagement and confidence-building, and expanded access to global knowledge and resources” (2023, section 5).
References
Lawrence, D. (2022). Digital writing: A guide to writing for social media and the web. Broadview Press.
Sivakumar, A., Jayasingh, S., & Shaik, S. (2023). Social media influence on students’ knowledge sharing and learning: An empirical study. Educational Sciences 13(7):745. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13070745
I enjoyed reading your blog on infographics. I liked reading about Liu and Wu's research tabout the cognitive processes involved in interpreting infographics. Students make more sense of information by putting the words and pictures together. This process helps students understand the material better and remember it longer. I believe using infographics is all about making information easier to understand and more interesting to look at. We need visual elements just as much as textual elements (Lawrence, 2022). Instead of long paragraphs, infographics break down ideas into short, visual chunks that are easier for students to absorb.
ReplyDeleteReferences:
Lawrence, D. (2022). Digital writing: A guide to writing for social media and the web. Broadview Press.