Infographics: Why are They an Effective Form Of Visual Rhetoric?
Infographics in The Classroom: Why are They an Effective Form of Visual Rhetoric?
"If rhetoric is the ability in a given case to understand the available means of persuasion, then visual rhetoric is the art of using visuals to persuade" (Lawrence, 2022, p. 105. Visuals are used in most digital media and are useful in selling products in advertisements and influencing people on social media. Eye catching media of all kinds helps to capture the attention of the intended audience. Infographics use pictures to share information or data. They are especially useful in the classroom. Students and teachers alike can use infographics to disseminate the information they'd like to share with the class. The pictures and bright colors on infographics help keep students engaged and provide a quick reference point to easily access important information. Altan and Calgitay (2022) studied student eye tracking using an older science textbook with few pictures versus a newly revised version that had many pictures and visual design elements to see which was more effective for learning and test scores. "Eye tracking results supported the impact of multimedia learning design and visual design on achievement test scores, as the participants in the revised chapter group attempted to integrate relevant text and relevant pictures significantly more often and were significantly more successful than participants in the unrevised chapter group" (Altan & Calgitay, 2022, p.56). Below is an example of an infographic that I created to explain what infographics are some ways they can be used in the classroom.
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Created by Kim Blackenburg in Adobe Express
If we know that pictures and elements of visual design aid learning and retention, then the use of infographics in the classroom makes sense. "Humans are creatures who, in most circumstances, are visual-first beings. The "world" is the world that we see" (Lawrence, 2022, p. 105). I use infographics in my classroom in a myriad of ways. I have infographics that display classroom rules. My students create infographics of their own in programs like Adobe Express and Canva. They have produced infographics about animals that they study in our zoology unit. Students look at real world examples of informational zoo signs and design their own. They use Adobe Express to include the necessary information. The signs are printed and displayed with the habitats they create for our Greystone Elementary Zoo. Fourth grade students participate in a spring gardening unit. One activity they complete is learning about how nature inspires art. They visit the garden and make sensory observations. They use these observations to write original garden haikus. Finally, they use Canva to create infographics to compliment their haikus. We display these in the hall that leads to the outdoor garden at our school. I have found that my students especially enjoy working in these programs to create their own, original infographics. In short, students are more engaged, learn more, and attend better when high quality, visual graphics are used. "Applying design principles holistically in the revised cell biology chapter resulted in significantly less time spent on relevant texts, significantly more successful integration of relevant texts and relevant images as well as significantly higher achievement scores in the revised chapter group as compared to unrevised old chapter group (Altan & Calgitay, 2022, p. 57). There are so many ways that infographics and design technology can be used in the classroom, and research supports the benefits of doing so.
The following video explains several additional ways to use infographics with students.
References
Altan, T., & Cagiltay, K. (2022). An Eye Tracking Based Investigation of Multimedia Learning Design in
Science Education Textbooks. Educational Technology & Society, 25 (2), 48-61.
Lawrence, Dan. (2022). Digital writing: A guide to writing for social media and the web.
Broadview Press.
The impact pictures and videos have on our students is immeasurable. Video rhetoric “allows us to create more persuasive and effective messages” (Lawrence, 2022, p. 117). As our presentations are more engaging, our students benefit, as proved by your discussed research study conducted by Altan and Calgitay (2022). Not only is it to our students’ advantage when we use visual rhetoric, but it also helps them when they get to create their presentations using visual rhetoric. Using tools like Canva and Adobe Express in your classroom, as you do, is a fantastic way to integrate using visual rhetoric with emerging technologies. When teachers “[integrate] emerging technologies in the learning process seems to affect creativity positively, and each kind has its way of promoting creativity” (Li et al., 2022, para. 5 conclusion). Based on your classroom description, your students have plenty of opportunities to create using visual rhetoric and emerging technology!
ReplyDeleteReferences
Lawrence, Dan. (2022). Digital writing: A guide to writing for social media and the web. Broadview Press.
Li, Y., Kim, M., & Palkar, J. (2022). Using emerging technologies to promote creativity in education: A systematic review. International Journal of Educational Research Open, 3, 100177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedro.2022.100177
Great post! I particularly appreciate how you've connected the concept of visual rhetoric to your personal real world classroom applications. Your examples of using infographics for classroom rules, animal studies, and garden haikus demonstrate the versatility of this tool across different subjects. I'm particularly intrigued by your mention of students using Adobe Express for their projects. As Lawrence (2022) notes, "Adobe is an international computer software company that has specialized in software that helps users create and edit digital graphics, files, and documents" and while it "can look complicated, there are countless training tools and approaches that can help users master these applications" (p. 107). It's great to hear about your students gaining experience with tools like this!
ReplyDeleteReference:
Lawrence, D. (2022). Digital writing: A guide to writing for social media and the web. Broadview Press.
Kim, your research on “eye tracking” is fascinating. I know that students in my classroom notice more colorful posters without many words. I would love to see some examples of the work your students do in your classroom. I like that you allow your students the freedom for creativity. To quote Lawrence, “A writer in the 2020s is also creating graphics, putting text on top of images, putting text into video, writing a script that becomes a video, writing content for a website that also features illustrations, and so on.” (Lawrence, 2022, p. 102)
ReplyDeleteLawrence, D. (2022). Digital writing: a guide to writing for social media and the web. Broadview Press.
Copied from a document Peggy emailed to me and posted on behalf of Peggy Huckabaa. She had technical difficulties.