Digital Technology - Infographics and Webapps

I went on a mission of discovery regarding infographics.  I had an idea what they were before I got started in my research, but I now have a better understanding.  An infographic is a visual tool that tells a story or shares information about a specific topic. It is fact based and planned, not just thrown together. It is an excellent way for educators to display important information for students. Infographics can also be used as a collaborative project demonstrating students’ knowledge and understanding of a topic.

There are several webapps that can be used to help in creating infographics. The ones I explored include Easel.ly, Piktochart, and Infogr.am. All three sites have some positive aspects and some negative ones. They all offer a free plan with the option to upgrade for a fee. With the upgrades, they include additional templates and other tools. They also include features like creating groups that can work together on the same project, additional share options, articles and webinars.

I first looked at Infogr.am. Once I set up my account and logged in, I looked at the different options the site offered. The free version was limited in templates and unless I am willing to pay to upgrade my plan, those are the only ones I can access. I can create an infographic from a blank canvas and tried to do that, but once I was ready to begin, I didn’t know what to do first.  I found the tabs and options to be limited and unclear.  There were very few images to choose from and only five templates. It seemed very basic and general. One positive about Infogr.am is that it allowed you to create a team and collaborate on an infographic together. That could be very useful with students working together on a project.

Piktochart is another webapp that offers many more templates with the basic plan, compared to the other two webapps I looked at.  You still have the option to upgrade your plan for a fee if you would like. There were a couple more steps in setting up my account, but the template choices made me forget about that. However, I wanted to create my own infographic without using an existing template and found this to be a little overwhelming. I wasn’t sure what to do first, the background, text, images or objects. I was confused about creating lines and adding pictures. Personally, I didn’t feel comfortable with Piktochart. One positive aspect with Piktochart is that it offers helpful videos that you can watch when you need help.  You can chat with someone to get assistance as well.

In my research, I found out that Easel.ly works best using Firefox. It was very easy to set up an account and you can always upgrade to gain access to more templates, options, and the ability to add users for collaboration. Easel.ly is the webapp I prefer compared to the other two. I found it to be the most user friendly.  You could also chat with someone if you needed assistance.  There were about a dozen templates you could choose from, so more than what Infogr.am offered, but not as many as Piktochart. Since I was creating an infographic myself, the templates were not needed this time. Once I got my blank canvas ready to go, I found it fairly easy to add text, images, and objects. Cutting, pasting, and copying were simple and familiar, like a word document, making it user-friendly for me. I created an infographic based on the percentage of people and age groups who used social media in 2018. (See infographic on right)

All three of the webapps, including Easel.ly, Piktochart, and Infogr.am, are great tools for creating infographics. I personally liked Easel.ly and felt more comfortable using it over the others, but someone else may prefer something different. I can see using these tools in the classroom. Students can work together to research a topic, analyze the data, design the layout and use the webapp to create their infographic. This would be a hands-on, educational process and experience where students are learning skills they can use throughout their lives. I encourage you to look into the different webapps and making infographics. It really is a lot of fun!

References:

http://easel.ly.com/

http://infogr.am

http://piktochart.com/

Smith, A., & Anderson, M. (2018). Social Media Use in 2018. Social Media Use in 2018. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from https://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/