RM Winter 2016 FLIP

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Reading Matters
Technology Matters
| 68| Reading Matters | Volume 16 • Winter 2016 |
easy video tutorial that helps those new to the site easily
acclimate to the options within each template. Three
popular templates with teachers are: (1) the Nerds vs. Geeks
for comparing and contrasting, (2) the Walkway as a way
to show a progression and/or the outline of events, and
(3) the USA Map to provide information regarding specific
location. Any of the templates are customizable, allowing
the user to change the graphics, the icons, and the text. Easel.
ly also allows the user to upload personal images to use in
existing templates. Once the infographic is saved, it can be
downloaded as a pdf or shared through a link or a group share.
Infogram, , is a great tool for
creating any kind of infographic, but teachers especially like it
for the eye catching data displays. The displays include a variety
of templates for charts and graphs. This makes it a great tool to
use in math and science as it allows teachers to integrate reading,
writing, and 21st century digital literacy skills into their content
curriculum. This site is especially useful for displaying statistics,
collecting and presenting data, and showing growth over time.
Piktochart, is another excellent
infographic tool and one that is very user friendly for students.
Piktochart provides users with four different design options,
infographic, report, banner, and presentation. The assortment
of formatting options allows students to clearly align the layout
with the purpose. The banner option has been used as a thinking
map or graphic organizer for students to create content-specific
notes. It can also be a way of outlining a presentation. The
presentation possibility allows students to embed videos and is
a great tool to integrate multiple genres such as commercials,
public service announcements, oral reports, skits, and songs into
the project. The report format has been utilized for research
projects that provide options for including data in the form of
charts and graphs. The report option now allows users to link
surveys through the Survey Monkey site, encouraging students to
collect and share data. Of course the infographic option is a go-to
format because it provides users with fairly simple templates that
include both text and graphics. Piktochart also allows the user
to upload personal images, videos, charts, and maps. Teachers
can save the infographic as a jpg, png, or pdf. Additionally,
teachers can create a copy of the infographic and can upload the
image onto another web 2.0 site such as a class blog or wiki.
Smore, , is an easy-to-use site that provides
the necessary components for a user to build an infographic.
Images, text, and links to other sites can be embedded into
the infographic. In order to add an image, the user scrolls
to the bottom of the page, clicks on the “picture” tile and
drags it to wherever the image will go. Students can share
the links to their Smore infographics through email, Twitter,
or class websites. Once the infographic is shared, viewers
can leave comments. In addition to the variety of tools that
students can use, Smore offers analytics. After publishing
the flyer, the user has access to information such as the
number of views the infographic has received, the locations
of those views, how many outgoing links were visited, and
the average time people spent viewing the infographic.
Helpful Tips
In order to help students become familiar and comfortable with
infographics, teachers can assign an All about Us task. An All about
Us assignment gives students a chance to learn the technology of
the infographic while learning about one another and building a
sense of community. Teachers can put students in pairs or small
groups of three. Students can interview one another and can then
create an infographic with the information. Interview questions
might include:
Where were you born?
Howmany people are in your family?
What do you want to be when you grow up? Why?
What do you like to read? Why?
While working on this assignment, students will gain an
understanding of how to use the various design elements. For
example, they will learn how to change the background, add
text, and insert images and photographs. When students have
completed the infographics, the teacher can display one at a time
on the smartboard and can allow group members to introduce
one another. The teacher can also have a Student of the Week
and can include the link to that student’s infographic in the class
newsletter or on the class website. Once students feel comfortable
with the technology, the assignments can focus more on content.
Several of the infographic websites give educators a
free option that allows them to create a limited number
of infographics for each account. Google allows users to
take an existing gmail account and add +1, +2, and +3 in
order to create unlimited accounts for students to use for
web 2.0 sites. It is helpful to create a list, inclusive of email
addresses, usernames, and passwords to keep track of the
login information. This helps alleviate the issue of only being
allowed to create a limited number of infographics for free.
Final Thoughts
Infographics can be used as an instructional tool in early
childhood all the way through post-secondary classrooms.
Utilizing vivid graphics to both attract the reader’s
attention and to serve as an additional meaning-making
tool, infographics are a powerful instructional strategy to
quickly and efficiently provide information to students.
With primary students in grades kindergarten through second,
infographics can be used in several ways. The infographic can
serve as an activating strategy to pique interest and tap into
students’ existing funds of knowledge on a specific topic. It can
also be used as a visual aid to enhance understanding of a topic
of study. The infographic can be a developmentally appropriate
way to provide content in a blended learning environment
so that students can “read” both the graphics and the text.
In grades three through twelve, infographics can be
instructional tools for content delivery. However, they are much
more powerful when used as an authentic tool to help students
create meaning. Students can construct infographics as visual