Ease.

ly Infographic

Topic of your infographic/poster

Ease.ly Infographic: A Colonial Farm Womans Daily Tasks
Target audience and grade level.
8th grade, English Language Arts and Social Studies cross curricular research
The instructional design process followed to develop the assignment
The DDD-E model was used for developing the instructional activity (decide, design,
develop and evaluation) (Ivers, K., & Barron, A., 2006). The website, Ease.ly was used
to create the infographic, A Colonial Farm Womans Daily Tasks). A white Arial font,
larger font or bolded font was used on a blue background. Red arrows were used to
keep with a Colonial theme, and to direct the students attention to the images and
corresponding verbiage. The key to the overall infographic design is repetition and
clarity (Williams, R., 2008). The infographic design is clean and simple so students will
not be visually overloaded or confused by a crowded page. (Dick, W., Carey, L., &
Carey, J., 2009).
How your project can be used for teaching or supporting a classroom lesson
(instructional strategy), and the importance of using infographics/posters/ in the
classroom.
Infographics require information, which, therefore requires research and reading.
Research and reading are needed in every class that our students take. However, our
students are visual learners (Hagen & Golombisky, 2013), and infographics can be used
as a hook to get our students attention, get them involved, as well as interested in a
topic. Infographics are a quick and visual way to meet them where they learn visually.

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The Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning supports student learning by:

attracting student attention;
providing linkages to topics being studied;
provides a framework to help students acquire information;
creates purpose and defines what the student should be able to do;
reduces cognitive load; and
supports teacher/student interaction (Hubenthal & Taber (2011).
The principles and elements of visual/media literacy and/or Mayers multimedia
principles that you employed for the assignment.
As we created the infographic, we used the multimedia principle where people learn
more from pictures and words, rather than words alone (Mayer, 2001). Audio and
visuals (non-verbal) are interpreted differently in our minds, thus how we use dual
coding. There are two separate channels in our minds (auditory and visual) to process

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information. We have to take into account that we should not overload students. I paid
closed attention to adding type/print and balancing the picture and text and using arrows
to aide in comprehension and create visual unity as White Space is Not \Your Enemy
book suggested (Hagen & Golombisky, 2013, p. 79).
A grid was used to create balance and boundaries. Ease.ly has a grid application that
the user can click on or off. Using it allowed for balance with placement of images and
text boxes and concurs with the books aspect ratio. The goal was to keep the
infographic in proportion and balanced. Color was also a consideration. The color used
was selected because red, white and blue are colors that are immediately identifiable
with the United States and the Revolutionary War, and supported the theme. The
Confederate blue background evokes the emotions of the 1700s and the pursuit of
freedom. The pitch and font were also considered for easy readability. If a reader has to
work at viewing, their interest will be lost. (Hagen & Golombisky, 2013).
Your own definition of infographics and posters, the differences between them
and their unique educational affordances.
My own definition of an infographic is simply a way to communicate information about a
subject that may be difficult to understand or boring. It also helps the teacher to break
down key points of a subject, which will potentially make those key points interesting to
the student so that they may become engaged and curious, and therefore are actively
learning.
Infographics can contain data, flow charts, maps, teach a process, and create
awareness about a particular issue. The use of infographics are only limited by your
imagination.
A proposed idea on how students can develop their own infographics/posters
(the steps you would follow for them to produce these type of media).
Students can develop their own infographics for just about any content that can be
categorized and summarized. There are many ideas to integrate infographics into the
curriculum. Students will benefit from the infographic activity in all of their classes. Our
students are required to research various topics, as well as cite their sources from their
research. The infographic developed as part of a research process will allow students to
demonstrate that their infographic contains reliable information. Students can create an
infographic for:
1. Science (Example: demonstrating a water cycle)
2. Math (Example: demonstrating a problem solving process)
3. English (Example: demonstrating how to create a citation)

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4. Social Studies (Example: demonstrating a timeline of the Holocaust)

5. Physical Education: (Example: demonstrating how to shoot a basketball)
Reflection about challenges completing the assignment.
Copyright and ethical best practices are important considerations when selecting
images from the internet. Therefore, morgueFile.com, a copyright free image site was
used for the pictures on the infographic. In addition, to make it look visually appealing,
we took the print into account, which font to use and to make sure that the title is bigger
than subtitles or additional information. For the overall look, color was taken into
account to make sure it matched the theme of the project. Since weve learned that
White Space is Not Our Enemy, its OK to keep it simple and not overload the learner
with too much information.
Further, because the infographic developed will be viewed on a website, via various
devices such as iPads, iPhones, tablets, etc. there were concerns about maintaining the
aspect ratio for a quality image. As development of the infographic began, it became
apparent that a grid for balance is especially important and useful.
All work begins with stepping away from the computer. While informal, sketching is
beneficial to quickly develop ideas for the infographic, all ideas do not come without
research. Research is a skill that is a lifelong activity, whether the researcher realizes
they are researching or not (i.e. for a car, etc.). Because our students live in a fast food
world, authentic research is difficult to teach. Further, citing their work is also difficult
and requires years of practice for our students. Being creative to reach our students
requires digging deep and doing the work or research. Upon completion, when our
students are successful, it makes the process all worthwhile. And then, we start all over
again.

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References
Colonial Women. (2015). Retrieved June 20, 2015, from
http://www.landofthebrave.info/colonial-women.htm
Dick, W., Carey, L., & Carey, J. (2009). Identifying Subordinate and Entry Skills. In The
systematic design of instruction (8th, ed., pp. 60-87). Glenview, Il: Scott,
Foresman.
Ease.ly. (n.d.) Retrieved June 19, 2015 from http://www.easel.ly/create/
Hagen, R., & Golombisky, K. (2013). Step Away from the Computer. In White Space is
not Your Enemy: A beginners guide to communicating visually through graphic,
web & multimedia design (2nd ed., pp. 590-603). New York, NY: Focal Press.
Hubenthal, M., OBrien, T., & Taber, J. (2011). Posters that foster cognition in the
classroom: multimedia theory applied to educational posters. Educational Media
International, 48(3), 193-207.
Ivers, K., & Barron, A. (2006). A Model for the Design and Development of Multimedia
Projects. In Multimedia projects in education designing, producing, and
assessing (3rd. ed., pp. 379-502). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
MorgueFile (n.d.) Retrieved June 20, 2015 from http://www.morguefile.com/
Williams, R. (2008). Extra Tips and Tricks. In The non-designer's design book: Design
and typographic principles for the visual novice (3rd. ed., pp. 1631-1675).
Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press.