Infographic Pedagogy for First-year College Students

Abstract

Infographics are an effective way to present complex and large data. In the 21st century, having design skills to promote the ideas and be able to find a larger audience is crucial for success. Hence, it is important to equip young students with this important design ability. In this work in progress research, the goal is to analyze and compare the students' infographics from two years study, with the total sample number of 92. For the second year, the research team designed new course material for the students and then evaluated the effectiveness of the new content, assessment and pedagogy tools. The proposed course material includes a new designed rubric with thirteen components for assessing students' infographics and the needed content pedagogy for teaching infographics. The students' infographics were graded in both years and the scores were analyzed, from which the statistics illustrated significant improvement in students' visualization skills. The results of students' grades show strengths and weaknesses related to different components of the new rubric. This study provides a complete description of this course content, assessment and pedagogy of teaching infographics to college students.