My Infographic Adventure

Image by UnboxScience on Pixabay

I have been intrigued by infographics since I first started to notice them seven or eight years ago. A French teacher at the time, I was excited by the possibilities French infographics presented as authentic input that was significantly less intimidating to students than a text-only article. What was intimidating about them, however, was the thought of trying to make one myself. A few times over the years I thought I might try to tackle an infographic syllabus for my courses - always during that fleeting, golden moment of end-of-summer motivation - but each time I abandoned the idea after a few half-hearted attempts. This is just too hard, I thought.

And then my Internet for School Librarians course required that I create an infographic. *Gulp* Being an over-achieving, grade-grubbing perfectionist, I knew I had no choice but to finally overcome my intimidation. Luckily, aspiring infographic designers do not need to purchase or learn complicated software to create their own masterpieces. There are several websites that allow users to design infographics with no experience or extensive training necessary. I tried out three of these websites in my quest to find the right fit for me: Piktochart, Easel.ly, and Infogram.

Each of the three allowed me to create an account using my Google log-in, a feature that is not only convenient for me, but also means it would be easy for teachers and students on my 1:1 Chromebook campus to sign up. They each offer video tutorials to help beginners get started as well as searchable help sections; Easel.ly and Infogram also offer a chat feature for help and free webinars. Perhaps most importantly, each one offers a free version adequate to meet the needs of infographic n00bs who want to play around, educators with a non-existent budget, or students who just need to make a single infographic to satisfy a project requirement.

I found the basic layout and functions of each website to be fairly comparable, but I didn't like that Easel.ly puts its tool bar across the top of the design field instead of to the side. Since infographics tend to be long and skinny, this placement felt in the way and annoyed me. That alone might not have been a dealbreaker, but Easel.ly had some other drawbacks that prompted me to dismiss it and move along. Chief among my complaints are that the free version includes less than 100 images, maps cannot be added to your infographic, and users must actually click "save" to save their progress - there is no autosave feature. Easel.ly was not for me, but depending on your needs it could be the best choice for you. If you are looking for an infographic creator to use with your classes, Easel.ly offers a reasonably priced paid plan for teachers ($4/month, which includes 30 free student accounts) as well as a free ebook with lesson plans for using Easel.ly in the classroom.

Piktochart was my original favorite, with over 4,000 icons and images to choose from in the free version, an appealing and intuitive interface, and the ability to download your infographics or view them in presentation mode. Once I started playing around with it, however, I discovered some frustrating aspects. For example, I wanted to use a map in my infographic to show which states have the highest percentages of English language learners in their public schools. I was able to edit the data for the map itself, but Piktochart either wouldn't let me edit the map's legend or doing so required advanced functions that were beyond my abilities. After a frustrating and wasted half hour, I finally gave up and moved on to try my luck with Infogram.

I did not think I would like Infogram. My first impression was tainted by the fact that the website does not clearly state their education pricing - interested teachers and students must submit an application form requesting a discount and wait to be contacted. I was irritated by this unnecessary obfuscation, but in the end Infogram won me over with its ease of use and seemingly endless features. Click on any element in your infograph to automatically open a sidebar with access to every editing option you might want. Right click on an element to duplicate, delete, lock, or move it forward/back. Choose from dozens of different chart types and maps, and then just fill in the ready-made spreadsheet with your data to populate your chart. As someone who is easily distracted, my favorite feature was that Infogram autosaves your changes as you go, much like Google Docs, so you don't have to worry about losing all of your work if the power goes out or some other disaster strikes. The main downside to Infogram (besides the secrecy surrounding their education pricing) is that you cannot download your creations in the free version; you can only share them online. If you are looking for something for students to use, privacy could also be a concern with Infogram, as all infographs created using a free account are automatically public and cannot be made private without upgrading to a paid plan. For my purposes, however, Infogram was the winner.

Much to my surprise, I actually found it easier to create my infograph from scratch rather than from one of the provided templates. With the templates, I felt too much pressure to make my content fit within the confines of the existing layout. I liked the freedom provided by a blank canvas, as it allowed me to worry more about what data I needed to share and which format would best convey that information. My finished product might not be professional quality yet, but I'm still quite pleased with what I was able to create.

ELLs in US Public Schools
Infogram

I think that infographics could be a wonderful addition to any teacher's toolkit. As a way of presenting information, they make data much easier to comprehend and definitely support visual learners. As an assessment tool, they allow teachers to see if students have been successfully able to analyze and synthesize information while also allowing students to showcase their creativity and learn some new Web 2.0 skills. If you haven't tried them out yet, there's no time like the present... after all, if I can do it, anyone can!