Using Infographics in Class

Have you thought about having students develop infographics in your classes?

Having students create infographics supports the skills identified in Bloom's Taxonomy and can be used to develop and assess the abilities of MCNY students:

• Ability 2 - to communicate effectively through reading, writing, listening, speaking and other modes of expression.
• Ability 3 -To develop an appreciation of art and aesthetic awareness.
• Ability 6 - to describe social, natural and technological systems, using methods specific to the humanities and the social and natural sciences.
• Ability 8: - to use mathematical reasoning to analyze the world.

What's an infographic?

Created by Customer Magnetism.

You might begin with using infographics to display information to students (check out the Daily Infographic or the New York Times for infographics you might use in class).

An assignment that has the students design their own infographics and present them in class (in-person or online) can help develop analytical, communication, technological and visualization skills. Projects can be created by individuals or groups and can be an interactive component in a hybrid or web enhanced course. For example you might ask students to develop an infographic on a social problem, the history of their agency or to display their research findings in their CA. These can be presented in class or posted online for discussion.

Check out Vennage a free resource for making infographics, which I have used for student assignments and have gotten outstanding results.

You fight find the following resources useful:

• Woo (2015) - How to Make an Infographic in 5 Steps
• McGuire (2016) - Can You Change the World with Infographics?
• Creerson (2016) - Why You Should Use Infographics in Your eLearning Course

 

Pew Research Center

As we are all putting the finishing touches on our syllabi and moodle shells for Spring 2015, I wanted to share with you one of my favorite resources for lecture materials, handouts for discussion, interactives and visualizations of data with charts and graphs. Pew Research is considered valid and reliable and I have seen it cited by The New York Times and CBS News. I always manage to find up-to-date information for my classes.

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research.

Their many projects include:

• Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
• Pew Research Center's Journalism Project
• Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project
• Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project
• Pew Research Center's Hispanic Trends Project
• Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project
• Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends

Here is an article that I think presents a good summary of the kinds of material published by the Pew Research Center - 14 striking findings from 2014.

You can also subscribe to their extensive selection of email newsletters at http://www.pewresearch.org/follow-us/.

I would like to hear from other members of the faculty about resources they find useful.
(This post was originally posted to the Audrey Cohen School for Human Services and Education Faculty Moodle Portal.)