flickr photo shared by PointRaiser under a Creative Commons ( BY ) license
Hi,
I have been waiting since the beginning of course 3 for infographic week. Infographics are always something I have been interested since starting this course when I was aware that we would be making them. To be honest, I didn’t think making an infographic was something for the “average” person and felt it would be something left to the graphic designers of this world! I love how the best inforgraphic can grab your attention and make you read about topics that you mightn’t not have any particular interest in but are sucked into reading about purely because of the design. Also the idea of digital resumes is something that I hadn’t heard of and really interest me. Will be nice to move onto from the boring “classic” resume (but more on that next week).
Visualizations are something I hadn’t really focused on or thought about while teaching. However when I looked at the Periodic Table of Visualization I realised that I already use quite a lot in my teaching especially things like flow charts, mind maps (Popplet is a great app for this if you haven’t tried it before) and various charts and diagrams that come up over various topics. I have also used a lot of Hans Rosling’s videos during social studies lessons or to correct some misconceptions children might have about the world. His work is excellent as his method of visually representing data is inspirational both for me as a teacher but also for students if you draw their attention to it during a lesson. I loved Megan Jagerman’s use of graphics for a variety of situations. I think these ideas are good ones to share with the children as her graphics have been used for lots of different situations- sports, habitats, reports on topics etc. These are all topics that children frequently research and complete projects on etc. I think showing them examples like these can help them realise that they can present their research in a way that is not only clearer and easier to understand but also more eye-catching and creative than a simple poster/slide show. This is actually something I am only beginning to realize myself!!
With my final project in mind (I will be creating a digital resume), I spent most of my time this week playing around with the different options for making your own infographic as well as finding inforgraphics to use in the classroom. To establish ease of use, mu plan was to try different sites and played around with them for 15minutes each to see what I could accomplish. I had problems even getting started with Visual.ly and re.vu so I focused on Picktochart and Visulaise.me.
Firstly, I used Picktochart to convert an infographic about Amilia Earhart into one about Franz Ferdinand (we are doing World War 1 in class). Below is what I accomplished in approx 15 mins of playing around and clicking on my first time using the site. I liked the system and it is relatively easy to use once you get the hang of it. You can also upload your own images which is useful. It does take a lot of time to get it right though as you can spend a lot of time lining things up correctly etc. Please note Franz Ferdinand did not refuse to wear typical flying gear nor have a friendship with Elenor Roosevelt that’s just as far as I got.
I then tried visualise.me and began a digital resume. I found the system very easy to use as you just have to input your information from your CV and then choose a theme that suits. This means that you can accomplish a lot quickly but are not afforded the same freedom to play around with how it looks. You can adapt colours etc. but you are restricted with the placement of objects and do not have the variety of logos and options that Pictochart offers. Another negative for visulaise.me was that you need to pay in order to download your finished infographic and the process of doing so seemed overly complicated to my beginner eyes anyway! From looking at the different sites this week, I have deicded that I will use Picktochart to create my resume because i feel it is a more flexible system that I will be able to sue for other topics so it will be good to ave a knowledge of how it works.
For use in the classroom I found some excellent sites which have a range of World War 1 infographics but I especially like this one which had a range of comparitive infrographics showing how the world has changed since World War 1. These simple posters are useful and clear and will be on display in my classroom in no time!! I hope the children will appreciate the design features and use them as inspiration when they are completing their own comparative work on World War 1.
Cheers,
Paul