Week 2 – Learner-centred design in infographics

Central to learner-centred design is the concept of scaffolding, where learners are combine prior knowledge with elements of the learning object to construct their own understanding. In order to support this, infographics need to make it easy for learners to find, combine and process the pieces of information they include.

Learning-theories.com describes the four elements that software needs to address the above and be an effective learning tool, but I have adapted them below for infographics. They are:

1. Context: The goal, purpose, and audience of the infographic
2. Interface: The aesthetics of the infographic
3. Tasks: What the learners will do with the infographic
4. Tools: What is needed in the infographic to support learning; these can include scaffolds
   (Adapted from https://www.learning-theories.com/learner-centered-design.html)

Context

The target audience of an infographic will be viewing it with prior knowledge, which will inform how they view the information, along with their reasons for considering it. Consider an infographic presenting the effectiveness of COVID vaccines. For vaccine enthusiasts, the information presented is likely affirmatory, but could help them in their conversations with the vaccine hesitant. The vaccine hesitant will approach the information with more skepticism. The data, choice of words, images and charts will need to draw the eye of the skeptic and present things in a less refutable fashion. As an example, a chart showing the inverse relationship between vaccination rates and hospitalizations could be more useful than bare statistics regarding the percentage-based effectiveness of the vaccines.

Interface

Here we need to pay close attention to some of the key theories we have learned so far. Cognitive Load Theory would tell us to try to deliver just one overall message in our infographic, and to keep the number of elements to the minimum possible, eliminating anything that doesn’t directly support the key information to be learned. The Signaling Principle would tell us to highlight the key pieces of information, by making them larger, bigger, brighter, etc. Finally, the Signaling and Coherence Principles indicate that we should use contrast (in size, colour, brightness, etc) to draw paths through the infographic for the eye to follow.

Tasks

The only real task assigned to the viewer of an infographic is to assimilate it into their own set of internalized knowledge. What they do with the knowledge as they construct and make a place for it internally is outside of the scope of the infographic. The assimilation, construction and internalization of the knowledge is aided by the final of our elements: Tools.

Tools

Each piece of information in an infographic is both a tool and a building block. A piece of text can allow a reader to make a connection between their prior knowledge and an image adjacent to the text, or the same image can help connect the text and a chart. Once connected, webs of understanding form and strengthen the connections around them. In this sense, a decision must be made when adding any item to an infographic – how well does the item connect to and support every other item in the infographic? The better it does this, the more pathways are made available to a learner, and the better they will be able to find a ‘best path in’ from their prior knowledge.

I think now I’d better get myself creating an infographic – seems like it could do a good job as a learner-centred learning object!