Module 1

Introduction to Instructional Graphics and Its Value

We begin this course with the introduction to three views of graphics based on their surface features, their communication functions, and their interactions with important psychological learning processes. We know that your decisions about graphics cannot be based on psychological factors alone. You must also take into consideration the entire instructional landscape including delivery media, learning environment, and pragmatic factors such as schedules and budget.

We also describe three guiding principles underlying the recommendations throughout the course:

• Graphic effectiveness depends on graphic functionality.
• Guidelines for graphics should be based on research evidence.
• The context will influence the best use of visuals in any specific training or reference product.

Goals and Outcomes

Goals

During this module, students will:

• be exposed to the conceptual foundations for instructional graphics and their value
• gain knowledge about the different functions of instructional graphics
• understand graphics’ function for supporting psychological events of learning
• understand the guiding principles for designing and selecting graphics.

Outcomes

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• create an infographic to introduce themselves
• identify communication functions of graphics
• identify the process of human learning.

Selected Readings

Required

• Chapter 1 from the following book:
  Malamed, C. (2015). Visual design solutions: Principles and creative inspiration for learning professionals. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
• Chapter 2 (pp. 15 – 26) from the following book:
  Clark, R., & Lyons, C. (2011). Graphics for learning proven guidelines for planning, designing, and evaluating visuals in training materials (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Recommended:

• Chapter 4 (pp. 49 – 63) from the following book:
  Clark, R., & Lyons, C. (2011). Graphics for learning proven guidelines for planning, designing, and evaluating visuals in training materials (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

“To Do” List

Self-Introduction: Infographic

Let’s start off this course visually and creatively. Visual and creativity are the two critical components of this course. In a regular online course, you are often asked to provide a written text to introduce yourself. In this course, we will do something different—using an infographic to introduce yourself! Given most of you don’t have the required Adobo Photoshop skills to create an infographic about yourself, we will be using an online tool (piktochart.com or canva.com) to accomplish this.

An infographic (information graphic) is a representation of information in a graphic format designed to make the data easily understandable at a glance. People use infographics to quickly communicate a message, to simplify the presentation of large amounts of data, to see data patterns and relationships, and to monitor changes in variables over time.

For more information about the infographic, visit the following link:
https://www.customermagnetism.com/infographics/what-is-an-infographic/

Outcomes

After completing this assignment, you will be able to:

• use piktochart.com or canva.com to create a self-introduction infographic
• add different visual elements (shapes, colors, photos, images, text, and lines) into an infographic
• save infographic as JPG or GIF for Weebly page.

Instructions

1. Visit piktochart.com or canva.com. If you want, view the tutorial before starting using it.
   • Piktochart Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wOIcf5lcdo
   • Canva Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FT6LOpp-fUg
2. Create an infographic about yourself
3. Add different visual elements (shapes, colors, photos, images, text, and lines) into your design.
4. Save your infographic as JPG or GIF image file or obtain the shared link of your infographic.
5. Upload the image file (or post the shared link) to a Weebly page.
6. In a paragraph (between 100 – 200 words), briefly describe your self-introduction infographic (assuming the viewers don’t have an idea about this infographic).

Submitting and Posting

1. 1. To submit your work, post URL of your Weebly page to the corresponding link under Submissions inside Moodle before 11:59 p.m. U.S. EST/EDT on the following Monday.