Infographics and Data Visualization
"Numbers have an important story to tell. They rely on you to give them a clear and convincing voice." - Stephen Few
The poster project is one of the most popular assignments teachers give students to show their understanding and research. I still remember the amazing posters my international teens created. They invested a lot of time and money into creating nice labels, printing and pasting colored photos, and citing their research. I was sad when they needed to be discarded, because they were too big or somehow got destroyed. This is the problem with having students work with paper and cardboard. The students can't keep their hard work and use it for future references or publish their ideas and research for others to be inspired. For this reason, I encourage you to transform the traditional poster project into a multimedia digital research project. Many free digital tools and apps help students create multimedia posters with incredible graphs, illustrations, charts, images, labels, fonts, templates and linked research. Find some ideas and tips below along with downloadable slides to get you and your students started with learning with infographics and data visualization.
Recommended Web Tools and Apps
- Piktochart is my favorite way to create infographics with clipart, templates, fonts, and more in their library.
- Infogr.am is an infographic creator with graphs and templates.
- Canva is a free web tool and iPad app for creating social media posters, infographics, digital poster projects and more. Get access to templates and some free images and icons. Check out Canva’s resources for creating awesome infographics here.
- Genial.ly is a free web tool for creating infographics and interactive visuals.
- Smore is a free web tool to create digital flyers with videos, icons, and images. Some teachers have used this web tool to create infographics.
- Visme allows you to create a few free infographics with cool transitions and effects.
- Check out this fantastic Google Draw template for creating infographics by John Calvert.
- Visual.ly lets you create an infographic comparing your Twitter account to a celebrity’s or peer’s account.
- Creating infographics with Powerpoint.
- Check out these resources to find lesson ideas for teaching with infographics:
- Need guides for creating infographics? Try these resources:
- Want to find infographics to teach Business English, English for Academic Purposes (EAP), Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), or any other topic?
- For more information on teaching and creating with infographics, check out these resources:
Find the tools listed above and many more resources in the bookmarks below: