Module 7: Infographics (LSSL 5391)

Infographics: Which one is the best for you? 

Where can I create an infographic?

Easel.ly

 https://www.easel.ly/

 

5/5 stars for ease of use

4/5 stars for allowance of one’s creativity

4/5 free vs. premium

5/5 overall

                After you create a new template, you are brought to a page that has a bar of items to choose from: templates, objects, media, lines, text, charts, etc. Once you choose a template, you drag and drop it to the blank area and begin your work. The template is pre-populated with information, but it is very easy to click a text box and change the items within it. Ease of use is not lacking here, with easy to push buttons and drag and drop methods, it is almost impossible to mess it up.

The backgrounds are pre-made and do not allow for much change within them. There is one background, “Twitter”, which is very obviously set for a specific type of infographic. Here is where the creativity lacks if you do not have the pro version because you are stuck with specific graphics and backgrounds.

                You have the option of “going pro” and receiving more backgrounds, text types, etc. but the basics are more than enough for a newbie. The pro version is $4/month, and you can make over 320 templates, while the free version only allows your 10 templates. You have the choice to sign up as a business/nonprofit, teacher, student (where you get 50% off), or an enterprise. On any of the levels, you can choose to make your infographic public or private. 

Piktochart

https://piktochart.com/

 

5/5 stars for ease of use

5/5 stars for allowance of one’s creativity

 

2/5 free vs. premium

4/5 overall

                When you first sign up, it sends you an email to confirm, then sends you to a page where you are introduced to statistics and numbers. Used by Forbes, theguardian, TechCrunch, Booking.cm, Typeform, and MOZ, it seemed much more professional than the other two. It has over 16 million users and over 800 templates to choose from. 

                Much like Easelly, you choose your own template, blank or pre-populated with information that allows you to edit. I chose a blank template to see what I was available to add/edit on it. Because it was my first project, a video tutorial and step-by-step informational guide pulled up to help me along the way. For anyone new to infographics or the website, this made a world of a difference!

                You have the ability to choose backgrounds (one color or a pattern), add in text, change color schemes, add in graphics, and upload your own items. The set up was similar to Easelly, but Piktochart had the bar on the left hand side as opposed to Easelly’s bar on the top.

                I chose the basic package, but you have the chance to level up and choose between nonprofit, education, or looking at pricing plans. Pro goes for about $24/month while Pro Team goes for about $82/month. This infographic creating website is far more expensive than the others. With the basic package, you can create up to five visuals and with pro you can create as many as you want. The pro version has quite a few extra perks to it, but the free account fit my needs just fine.

Infogr.am

https://infogram.com/

2/5 stars for ease of use

4/5 stars for allowance of one’s creativity

3/5 free vs. premium

3/5 overall

               With the choice between free or premium plans, Infogram gives you choices of free templates when you first login. You can choose anything between reports, slides, Facebook posts, single charts, dashboards, or infographics. All of the choices have blank templates or pre-populated options to choose from. The pro version is $19/month, but you also have the choice of a business ($67/month) or team membership ($149/month). 

                Once inside, you have the choice of changing the layout, text, and specifics much like the other two in a drag and drop manner. The bar is on the left side along with a private or public feature. Sadly, you have to upgrade to have the private feature. 

   At first, I was very impressed with the site, but it soon let me down. Once I began working on an infographic on Infogram (I liked this one the best, at first), I found out very quickly that it was not as user friendly as it came off to be in the beginning. Any time I added a new text box, I would click backspace to get rid of the words within it. When I did that, it would take be back a page, not erasing the text at all, making me start all over again. I tried as hard as I could, knowing my initial play around with the program went just fine. I moved on from that very quickly.

Commonalities: 

(1) All three made it very easy to create an account. You had the choice of using an email and password, linking to a Google account, or even linking to your Facebook. When a website gives you an array of choices to login, I prefer that over it being mandatory to use an email. (2) You can create infographics, presentations, and print material, such as flyers and reports. While creating you can add team members, much like a Google doc, to corroborate together. (3) Both Easelly and Piktochart had blogs and inspiration pages to help get your started. Easelly, in particular, had over six million visuals created for you to peruse for inspiration!

Overall Choice:

Next up, after a sad encounter with my first infographic on with Infogram, I moved on to Easelly to see if that was anymore user friendly. I was able to choose a template that I thought would work best for my article and got to work. Immediately I saw a difference, starting with the ability to use the backspace key. There were numerous objects for me to add into my infographic that came with the free version, and I also had the ability to add in my own media files.

The only strange thing I noticed was a box was put in place of a “&” sign and even when I made a contraction. I had to go in and change aren’t to are not because of the box. For all of my percentages, I had to write the word out rather than use the symbol. It was odd to me, but it worked out in the end, and I was pleased with the final product.

 My Infographic:

Lenhart, A., Jones, S., & Macgill, A. (2008). Adults and Video Games. Retrieved from
        https://www.pewinternet.org/2008/12/07/adults-and-video-games/

Hosting an Author Visit in the Library (LSSL 5368)

Hosting an Author Visit in the Library

My Basis/Extra Information to Consider

While working at my school for the past four years, we have had an author visit because she is a native to our city and loves our kiddos! I am basing my ideas off of what I have experienced, learned, and put some of my own ideas into the process of this author’s visit. The author has had a book published for the past four years, has been on the Texas Bluebonnet reading list for two years, and is a huge advocate for teaching students about the writing process. (No names will be used to maintain privacy.)

I will focus on an author who is visiting grade sixth grade students in their ELA class. Sixth grade students, at my school, range from ages eleven to thirteen, depending on birthdays (some even as young as ten about to be eleven), so there is a slight array of maturity and age appropriateness to take into account.

We have three ELA teachers on the sixth grade team, each with six classes, and 25 or so students per class. That means your author will be speaking six times a day (teachers have one off period, sometimes more so student number can range), with a break for teacher off period(s) and lunch. 

Planning/Preparations

·         One year out

o   Seek approval from your principal before starting this process.

o   Research your school and students. Authors need to be age appropriate, fit the needs and wants of the students, and be able to express their thoughts in a fun, interactive way, engaging the student while still teaching them a sense of what an author does, the process of writing a book, etc.

o   Begin research on authors in your area. If your area is not coming up with anything, begin looking online to see about traveling authors, who might be in town on tour or at a local book signing, check with your local book stores or libraries, and talk with friends and family for any mutual author friends.

o   As soon as possible, secure an author (or more if possible!) to visit. You can focus on one grade level or multiple grade levels and have multiple author visits a year.

·         Six months out

o   Author should be secured. You should have full confirmation of the author attending in some form of written consent.

- Get basic information on what your author might teach/talk about.

- Get information on food allergies/issues from author to prepare for catered lunch.

·         Three months out

o   Figure out who you are ordering the books from: mass retailer, publisher, author themselves, or a local book store.

o   Begin handing out forms for ordering books to students/teachers/parents. Post a cut off date and time for ordering books.

·         Two months out

o   Order books from said retailer and verify the number of books and/or which books will be purchased if you are ordering an array of books. This is to secure the books ahead of time because some orders may be huge!

o   Speak with your school’s caterer or someone you can order food from in the district. My librarian catered in for years from the Child Nutrition Department and never paid a dime! All costs were paid for from her activity fund, funded by book fair earnings.

·         One month out

o   Books should be processed and on their way shortly/already arrived. You need to make sure you have the correct amount of each book, if different ones were ordered.

o   Promotion needs to continue!

o   Very food vendor, number of people to prep for, and the type of food.

·         Week of

o   Verify with author of their arrival time, parking location, sign in processes, or anything that would be necessary for them to get into the school and to the library without hassle.

- Choose a library aide, student worker, or front office helper to pick up your author from the front office and guide them to the library.

o   Verify with the food vendor on the time, location, and amount of food for the day of.

- Choose a library aide, student worker, or front office helper to pick up your food vendor from the front office and guide them to the library.

Procedures/Preparations

·         For book order/signing: give order forms to teachers to hand out to students in class, have extra copies in the library, and put the forms on the library home page as well as the school home page. Have books available for purchase in as many methods as possible: cash, check, or credit card (through the website from the publisher), so that students and parents will be more inclined to buy.

·         One day before

o   Have chairs put into the library to hold more than necessary as a precaution.

-With three ELA teachers and 25 or so kids per class, there should be a minimum of 75 chairs available.

o   Have a table set up for where you will eat lunch.

-My school’s librarian invited all of the ELA teachers, SPED teachers who teach ELA or Read180, the author, and all librarian staff. From my past experience, around six to seen people show.

o   Verify with teachers the schedule, emailing it out to them and speaking with them.

·         Day of author visit

o   Pick up author from front office.

o   Find a place for belongings, start introductions of library staff, show author around, and help them get set up.

o   Students begin to enter, with teachers, and are seated together by class, taking into account students who may need to sit up front or away from others.

o   Once all students have entered, author begins.

o   (Per my specific author) Author speaks on her history: as a child/what they liked or didn’t like about reading/what they remember/why they chose to write for 10 minutes, speaks on writing a book/process/submitting for 10 minutes all while showing an original copy of the manuscript, small writing exercise for 5 minutes, and then Q&A time with the students.

§  Sometime in there, when a student shares one of their stories from the writing exercise, the author gives out a copy of their book to them as a thank you!

o   Books are already separated into classes. Teachers gather all books or by each class period to hand out to students when they are back in the room.

o   Continue classes until it is break time.

o   Lunch time! Author gets a break, room gets reorganized, and bathrooms are utilized.

o   Finish up classes, gathering any remaining books.

o   Final thank you and goodbye to author. Walk them to the front to check out.

Promotion

·         Book order/signing: offer to buy books from said author at a whole-sale discount from the author themselves or the publisher. Order books in advance so that they arrive by the time the author comes to speak. Have the author sign the books that were pre-ordered and have them available for the kids that day. 

·         Introduce the author: while you do not want to give too much away, introduce the students to the author in some form of digital technology.

o   Try using the author’s website as a guide, if you are having trouble getting started. Their website will also house the latest photos, news, and upcoming releases to get kids even more excited.

o   PowerPoint, Prezi, Smore, and other similar digital media platforms would be great to use because it will be easy to send out to parents/teachers for students who were absent or want a recap of what went on/what was learned.

·         Put on all calendars on websites for the school! Promote to parents, just as much as students. Invite parents to join, if they would like, so that they don’t feel like they are left out. This is a great student/parent bonding moment.

Payoff

·         Students are introduced to a real-life author and are given a first-hand look into what it takes to be done.

o   Learn about the writing process, brainstorming ideas, etc.

o   (From experience) Students play writing games using digital technology.

·         Students have the opportunity to purchase a signed book.