Learning OBJECTIVES
- Create visually appealing representations of information gathered from conversations with partners in Spanish-speaking countries via a third-party program, TalkAbroad
- Make decisions about effective organization and depiction of data
- Represent complex concepts using charts, graphs, and images
- Compare and contrast infographics created by classmates
ACADEMIC TECHNOLOGY TOOL
- Infographics (using Canva, PowerPoint, Illustrator, or similar tools)
Featured Faculty
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Carmen Granda
Course
Description of the Learning Design
In the Fall of 2021, Professor Carmen Granda wanted to find a creative way for the students in her Advanced Spanish Language and Culture course to demonstrate their developing language skills. The students would be engaging in conversations with partners in Spanish-speaking countries through a program called TalkAbroad. Instead of writing a traditional research paper, she designed an assignment that would give her students a chance to experiment with visual communication as a means of sharing information that would be later used by classmates for writing comparative essays.
Prof. Granda often uses infographics in her courses because she finds they are effective tools for comprehension across all language levels. Infographics typically break down complex information into bite-sized text and include titles, keywords, and images, so novice learners are less likely to become overwhelmed by the information. In fact, this authentic material allows students to build their vocabulary in the target language and also reinforces words or themes from the textbook. At the intermediate and advanced levels, infographics can be used to develop intercultural competence. Students at this level can compare content in two or more infographics. With this task, not only do students develop their language skills, but they also broaden their cultural knowledge. Prof. Granda considered taking this one step further - what if advanced students could showcase their understanding and proficiency in Spanish by making their own infographic?
In the last unit of SPAN202, students learned about food sustainability in one or two Spanish-speaking countries. With their conversation partners, students discussed food and food sources, asking how they obtained food in their countries and what problems they might encounter. Prof. Granda envisioned the students summarizing the information they learned, organizing it into a clear and cohesive visual representation conveying the unique intersection of language and culture in the context of cuisine, and posting the resulting infographics in Moodle. Then, students would write an essay comparing their infographic to at least one other infographic created by their classmates, broadening their understanding of food sourcing in Spanish-speaking countries through peer learning.
Digital Literacy
Throughout the pandemic, it had become clear to Prof. Granda that students were increasingly aware of the need to develop their digital literacy, one of the skills listed in the 21st Century Skills Map spearheaded by ACTFL (American Council of Teaching of Foreign Languages) and P21 (Partnership for 21st Century Skills). This assignment afforded them the opportunity to develop their digital skills, gaining a key competency that could be applied in many areas of their life beyond language learning. In addition, by offering a variety of assessment types, she would potentially provide a beneficial avenue for students with varying learning styles to demonstrate their knowledge. Finally, these types of assignments encourage students to be creative, which in turn, leads to increased student engagement.
In-Class Workshop
Prof. Granda worked with Academic Technology Services (ATS) to plan a workshop that would be held during one of her class sessions. The workshop presented her students with a basic understanding of visual communication principles (such as the use of fonts, color, contrast, and white space), explained how to properly source and cite images, and how to effectively organize complex data using charts, graphs, and images. This was followed by a brief overview of possible tools to use to get started making their own infographics, such as Canva, PowerPoint, and Adobe Illustrator. In addition, ATS shared concrete recommendations for making infographics more accessible (see “Accessibility Bonus” section below for more information).
Examples of Student Work
Prof. Granda created a clearly defined rubric for assessing the quality of the infographics, as well as the comparative essays that the students would write to compare the infographics of their classmates. Students submitted an impressive series of high-quality and visually appealing infographics:
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Example Infographic 1 - Piero Campos
(click images on left to enlarge)
Click here for a screen-reader accessible version of Example Infographic 1 by Piero Campos.
Visual Communication: Student Piero Campos' infographic uses short, quick-to-read segments to communicate facts from his TalkAbroad conversation. He included links to additional information, including a QR code leading to a relevant website. His use of color contrast effectively delineates the sections, and the colorful imagery indicates the topics of each fact.
Metacognitive Strategies: In this infographic, we can observe that the student has used visual design effectively to achieve rhetorical persuasion. Presenting maximum info on minimal space and synthesizing ideas requires prioritizing, and also knowing what to leave out.
Piero’s Perspective: "Being able to use platforms such as Canva to engage in classroom learning helped me manage my both technical and research skills. I enjoyed learning about Peru and its food sustainability in comparison to America's approach towards the food industry. I hope to continue using tools such Canva to engage in research and tech ability."
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Example Infographic 2 - Gabriela Weaver
(click image on right to enlarge)
Click here for a screen-reader accessible version of Example Infographic 2 by Gabriela Weaver.
Visual Communication: Student Gabriela Weaver used visual elements such as icons, graphs, and percentages to quickly convey the statistics and information that she learned in her TalkAbroad conversation. She was careful not to crowd the infographic with too much information by effectively using white space. The green color scheme creates clear sections but also keeps the infographic visually unified.
Metacognitive Strategies: The process of creating the infographic demands a strong understanding of the language of visuals. The information chunks are also presented as units of ideas that are not disjointed but connected to form a larger picture. This leads to new meaning-making and is the essence of constructionism.
Gabriela’s Perspective: “I really appreciated the incorporation of different modes of learning into SPAN202. Through the creation of my infographic, I solidified my understanding of food sustainability in Colombia. More broadly, I've come to appreciate the concise, compelling nature of infographics and expect to create them in other contexts. For example, I used canva to make study guides for one of my other classes last semester. I also have looked at marketing internships and think knowing how to make such materials is a useful skill to have.”
Accessibility Bonus
There are inherent accessibility concerns when creating infographics - the largest of which is the difficulty for screen readers to process the content in PDF documents. Simply posting a PDF or JPEG version of an infographic on a website is not sufficient, as the usual use of “alt-text” for images is not able to capture the breadth and depth of data that an infographic includes. The workshop provided in Prof. Granda’s class recommended including a plain text version of infographic data, making it easier for people who use screen readers to access the information. This can be on the same page as the infographic (an excellent example of this approach can be found on the Web Accessibility for Designers page created by WebAIM), or via links to separate pages or documents, as utilized in this article. This knowledge helps students deepen their grasp of digital literacy and develop an accessibility mindset, seeing themselves as capable creators of accessible/inclusive documents. Providing this information to students contributes to the ongoing efforts to strive for inclusivity in academia.
How-To Resources
Infographics, Data Visualization, and Visual Communication:
Digital Literacy:
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Accessibility:
Additional Amherst College Resources: |
Readings and References
- Yuruk, S.E., Yilmaz, R.M. & Bilici, S. An examination of postgraduate students’ use of infographic design, metacognitive strategies and academic achievement. J Comput High Educ 31, 495–513 (2019). Link
Published Spring 2022 by Academic Technology Services