Abstract
Infographics are like a map of visual information, and they are free great technological tools to teach visual or text content in an easy, enjoyable, engaging way. This chapter highlights the importance of using infographics with university adult learners in face-to-face and online courses. Infographics allow for higher thinking skills such as evaluation and analysis as the designer makes judgments about the content, design, and quality. They also allow for making syntheses as the designer plans and then builds their infographic. The use of higher thinking skills makes learning the materials more effective and more accessible. The chapter focuses on how to enhance learning and teaching by using visuals through infographics. The use of infographics makes teaching more culturally relevant and allows for creativity. The chapter discusses the benefits of infographics and talks about how teachers can use them in their classes. The chapter also provides some sample lessons with different ideas on using infographics and concludes with some recommendations.
TopIntroduction
People, especially younger generations, are generally immersed into technology and social media, which have become an inextricable part of their daily lives. Many individuals use websites and search engines to keep up with current events, solve difficulties, or conduct their work duties. In addition, previous studies on mobile communication technologies have conveniently provided consumers the opportunity to find information at their fingertips. As a result of the significant change in the way people obtain information, which has influenced the format in which information is presented to digital generations, visual knowledge resources with limited textual content have become increasingly more popular (Ghode, 2012). Consequently, rapid technological advancements now have a significant impact on students' educational lives. New media demonstration forms emerged as technological gadgets of information and communication were developed to transmit knowledge quickly, regardless of the spaciotemporal factors. Infographics are an example of this genre as they employ graphic visual images to present information, knowledge, or data efficiently.
When did infographics first appear? It is well known that drawing preceded writing to communicate ideas during the earliest civilizations as early people drew on cave walls to convey many purposes (Smiciklas (2012). One might also wonder: What are infographics?Smiciklas (2012) defines them as visualization of facts or concepts aimed at conveying complex information to an audience in a way that can be ingested quickly and simply. McCandless (2010) compares infographics to posters and explains that the content or data is what distinguishes an infographic from a poster as the latter may contain one or two textual pieces or facts, whereas infographics contain a large amount of information pointing to the same conclusion.
Different infographic tools are free and available online, and the number is in constant increase. Coggan (2021) identifies 63 tools that can support designing infographics, ten of which are recommended in Table 1. These are some of the best tools that teachers can use for creating infographics.
Table 1. Popular tools for creating infographics
| Infographic Tool | Features |
| https://spark.adobe.com/ | Spark adobe allows designers in only a few touches to create professional-looking graphics, collages, flyers, movies, and animations. |
| https://www.canva.com/ | Canva is a graphic design tool for making social media graphics, presentations, posters, documents, and other visual content. |
| https://www.visme.co | Visme is a block-based infographic maker with a lot of flexibility. |
| https://www.online-image-editor.com/ | Online image editor makes animated gifs, trim avatars, and resize photos. It can also be considered as a photo editing software for the user's favorite photos. |
| https://piktochart.com | Piktochart is a web-based infographic program that allows users to create infographics and visuals using themed templates even if they do not have much experience in graphic design. |
| https://public.tableau.com/en-us/s/ | Tableau is a software that allows users to construct a variety of data visualizations and information “dashboards”. |
| https://venngage.com | Venngage has the ability of editing a big infographic easier than other infographics. |
| https://infogram.com | Infogram is a data visualization and infographics platform that runs on the web. Users can create and share digital charts, infographics, and maps with it. Infogram is a user-friendly WYSIWYG editor for converting data into infographics that can be published, embedded, or shared. |
| https://www.easel.ly/blog/ | Easel is Blog about infographic design and data visualization. |
Source: (Coggan, 2021)
Key Terms in this Chapter
Infographics: The visual representation of information.
Lesson Plan: A detailed description that guides and shows the lesson.
Target Language: The language which the students are studying.
Assessment: It is a process in which teachers can measure students’ outcomes through some assessment tools.
KWL Chart: A chart that asks students what they already know, what they wonder about, and what they learned.
Language Skills: Refers to receptive and productive skills; reading, listening, writing, and speaking.
Infographic Tool: A website that provide a tool for designing infographics.