Info about Infographics

I created my first infographic just a month ago in a class I took on Instructional Strategies. It is entitled Creative Thinking Class Road Trip (see it below). It was a great experience for me because I am a crafter at heart. In doing this, I realized what a great assessment tool they can be.

I currently teach TESOL  and design curriculum and instructional tools for a language school and a career college. One of the projects I am working on is a menu of learning activities/assessments for an EAP class and a college class. I can’t wait to use infographics as part of this menu.

Using an Infographic as an assessment tool:
  • Encourages students to find appropriate sources and make choices about what to include and what not to include because it is such a small space.
  • Uses summarizing skills because infographics require the students to condense ideas/opinions into a small space.
  • Develops some of the soft skills related to media production that they might need as part of courses, or at the workplace.
With this said, I do not think they are simplistic at all. There is a lot more thought that goes into them. Using my own experience, I cared more about the infographic than the last essay I wrote. My experience was positive.

However, I am a self-directed learner who is not afraid of a challenge. A possible complication I could see is teaching students digital literacy skills and how to navigate sites for creating infographics like canva  and piktochart. These challenges can be mitigated if the teacher teaches how to use it, and then applies the skill in small doses, and then has students create.

Read more about using and teaching infographics here:
infographics-and-their-advantages
infographic_lesson_plan

What do you think about using them instead of a research essay for an EAP or college class assessment?

Here is a suggestion for an adaptation on a poster presentation as an assessment from one of my classmates.
  1. Students work in groups of two to create an infographic that illustrates a new trend in meetings and conventions technology (suggested topic) 
  2. Using a blog or platform to show all the infographics or assign each student (or a few) a room to open their infographic on the computer and the students could mingle around the classrooms. Possibly on a schedule. 
  3. One person in each group visits a minimum of three posters of other groups and provides written feedback while the other person in their group presents/answers questions. Then they switch.
  4. Teacher grades the content, visual presentation, oral presentation and the three pieces of peer feedback for each poster and each presenter.   
  5. At the end of the class, students conduct a self-assessment and discuss the infographics they liked the best. 
And, now the best for last. Here is my first infographic.


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