A quick Pinterest query of "infographic," "learning," and "education" yields hundreds of interesting infographics spanning every imaginable topic. Similarly, a Google search for "infographics education" results in thousands of hits. And an infographic about infographics (at right) provides stats and information that should encourage educators to take these visual displays of information and data very seriously. According to the "What is an Infographic?" piece, "High quality infographics are 30 times more likely to be read than text articles." In an age of visual displays with short bursts of text and information (think Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest), infographics must be taken seriously as means by which many students gain information. If a student Googles a topic and is faced with a number of text-dense articles or websites ... or they can tackle the same information via a well-organized infographic, my guess is they will be more inclined to review the visual summary of information before they will tackle a multi-page article or text-heavy webpage. As a result, it certainly behooves teachers to brush up on creating their own infographics with easy-to-use and nifty tools like Piktochart, and then go beyond considering how they might use infographics in their instruction to having students create their own visual displays of what they have learned. What an interesting and enjoyable twist on the traditional book report, research project, or presentation the development of a content-rich infographic would be! AND the creation of an infographic requires students to tap into left-brain creative thinking that isn't necessarily a component of traditional demonstrations of learning. So...great task this week, and what a treat it was to consider my colleagues' infographics and the power of this new approach to sharing information. |
Customer Magnetism. "What is an Infographic?" Retrieved on 10 Apr 2015 from https://www.customermagnetism.com/infographics/what-is-an-infographic/
Easelly. (2014). "Top Tips from Experts on What Makes a Great Infographic." Retrieved on 10 Apr 2015 from http://www.easel.ly/blog/top-tips-from-experts-on-what-makes-a-great-infographic/
Pinterest. Retrieved 10 Apr 2015. "Education Infographics." Retrieved 10 Apr 2015 from https://www.pinterest.com/officialascd/education-infographics/
PIXELearning. "Why are games good for learning?" Infographic. Retrieved on 10 Apr 2015 from http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/11/a-beautiful-visual-on-importance-of.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+educatorstechnology/pDkK+(Educational+Technology+and+Mobile+Learning)