Infographics in the Classroom

Students, no matter what age they are, learn in many different ways. Some are auditory, visual, reading/writing, and kinesthetic learners. Infographics can embody several of these versions of learning all in one place. A visual or graphic is always extremely helpful to aid in student learning and an infographic combines both information or text and graphic design. Using infographics in the classroom can enhance student learning in so many ways; it catches their attention, explains information, and also helps them to retain the information presented. The combination of both text and visuals is extremely helpful for comprehending information. Sometimes just reading text alone is not enough for students to understand a concept and they need more than one way for it to be presented to them. According to Lawrence (2022), “visual rhetoric is another powerful rhetorical tool to help analyze the world” (p. 187). Seeing information in a visual format can help students understand more complex information. Infographics can also be helpful for students with attention disorders; the visuals along with the condensed text, helps keep their focus on what they are learning.

Infographics are a great tool for teachers to use and there are so many great ways that they can be incorporated into lessons and in the classroom in general. Here is a website that contains 10 ways to use infographics as a visual learning tool to help further student comprehension.

10 Ways to Use Infographics as a Visual Learning Tool 

Lawrence (2022) states that “scholars in the field of rhetoric now recognize the powerful effects that visuals, video, design, and processes can have on our perception of reality” (p. 161). Graphics can have such an impact on our learning and understanding of things. Not only is it helpful to teach using infographics, it is extremely beneficial for students to create their own infographics to display their learning. Having students create an infographic to display their knowledge activates important critical thinking skills. Infographics require students to read information and then summarize and synthesize that information to be included on the infographic. Furthermore, having to incorporate graphics into their writing, pushes students to think deeper into what they are researching and helps them have a deeper understanding of the material Using infographics to share their learning can be more enjoyable for students, hold their interest in the material, and, in turn, help them retain the information because they are invested in what they are learning. Derek and Jenkinson (2020) suggest, “our experiences have shown that infographic-based assessments can enhance student creativity, engagement, and communications skills” (p. 103). Using infographics and graphics to express information in general is a lifelong skill that will be helpful for students beyond their school years. Whether it is reading an infographic or creating an infographic, students are using multiple forms of rhetoric to both comprehend information and express information. Derek and Jenkinson (2020) have found that, “infographics have a strong visual component that can make it easier for a viewer to understand the message” (p. 95).

Below is an infographic that explains 5 reasons that teachers should use infographics in their classroom and with their students. 

References

Lawrence, D. (2022). Digital writing: A guide to writing for social media and the web. Broadview Press.

Derek, A. S. & Jenkinson, A.M. (2020). Using infographics to help students understand anatomy and physiology. Journal of the Anatomy and Physiology Society. Retrieved February 3, 2024, from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1294930.pdf.

Disinformation in Social Media

The world of social media has quickly and suddenly been bombarded with disinformation. Disinformation is also known as fake news. Disinformation on social media can impact users' opinions on important topics such as medicine, politics, education, etc. (Olan et al., 2022). All of these topics are important to our livelihood and we depend on the things that we read to help us make important decisions. We would like to be able to trust what we read. As Lawrence (2022) says in our textbook, "many of the mechanics of social media, such as sharing and media previews, cater to the spread of disinformation” (p. 140). Readers can be swayed from one side of an important topic to the other solely based on something they have read that may or may not be true. The image below shows the impacts of disinformation or fake news. 

Olan et al. (2022) shares that “fake news, although unvetted, has a credible and professional appearance, ensuring that people cannot always distinguish it from true news” (para. 2). Because of the appearance, readers make the assumption that it is trustworthy. I truly feel like technology has trained us to be such an “instant feedback” world that so many people do not want to take the time to read information to determine whether it is fake or not. We quickly judge a book by its cover, read it, and let it sway our opinion on whatever the topic is that we are reading about. According to Lawrence (2022), “when a Facebook user shares a news article to their feed, there is a fairly limited amount of information: a headline, an image, and a description” (p. 140). Everyone wants to read the title, share it, and then move on to the next piece of information. Because the information is limited and we do not dig into what we are reading, many social media users' opinions are so easily swayed. Meanwhile, they do not realize they are sharing disinformation with their family and friends, and very likely swaying their beliefs while they're at it. 

It is important for everyone to understand how to disseminate between disinformation and factual information. There are a few obvious ways to tell if you are looking at fake news, we just need to be educated on how to do it. Here is an article that gives us 10 ways to spot disinformation on social media.

10 Ways to Sport Disinformation on Social Media

With such important topics being influenced by disinformation that affect our everyday lives, we need to be sure that what we are reading is credible, reliable information. We as parents, professionals, and American citizens need to be able to make informed and sound decisions which in many respects have to be made based on what we read, see, and hear from news outlets. Let’s fight the spread of fake news on social media by digging deep when we see something shared and decide whether it is true before sharing it ourselves. If we all ban together, eventually the culprits behind the disinformation will get frustrated and move on. 

References

Lawrence, D. (2022). Digital writing: A guide to writing for social media and the web. Broadview Press.

Olan, F., Jayawickrama, U., Arakpogun, E.O., Suklan, J., & Liu, S. (2022). Fake news on social media: The impact on society. Information Systems Frontier. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-022-10242-z