Education Infographics & Multi-Media Aids
- ESSA Plans: Explainer and Takeaways From Each State
- Educators Share their #BestPD, #WorstPD
- Kindergartners Enter More Ready in Math and Literacy
- Trends in Online Education/ Scholarly Articles
- How Live Video is Changing the Classroom
Infographics, those brief, visually stimulating capsules of information available on digital devices, depict every possible subject including trends in education. Like an outline, the infographics make it possible to quickly identify and retain pertinent facts. The following infographics are about education, specifically trends from elementary to secondary students and from classrooms to online courses.
1) ESSA Plans: Explainer and Takeaways From Each State
This Infographic from Education Week discusses what states plan to do with the new flexibility they have under the Every Student Succeeds Act. The graphic features a section which explains its goals, then moves to a map with a drop-down state menu which lets learners see where their states stand in getting a sign-off from the Department of Education. Browsers can then go to a state-by-state chart that identifies state plans in six areas: goals, school ratings, academic indicators, school quality indicators, meaning subgroups and testing opt-outs.
2) Educators Share their #BestPD, #WorstPD
This entertaining and short infographic highlights, in talk-blurb form, some of the best professional development and worst professional development ideas they have recently noted. The graphic includes an embedded video as well. One of the teachers posting on the graphic says that the best professional development ideas give educators “something they can walk away with and immediately use in the classroom.” The worst was a motivational speaker who asked the audience to stand up and sing all the verses of “You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me Lucille.” Not a truly educational infographic, the content is intended to inspire teachers by seeing what other teachers are finding valuable, and to give them a chuckle.
3) Kindergartners Enter More Ready in Math and Literacy
This infographic discusses the trend for kindergartners to enter school with more foundational knowledge in these two areas. The assessments took place in 1998 and 2010. Made in the first part of the school year, they looked at whether students had no knowledge of a subject or could demonstrate consistent skill at the task. Each subject is presented as two graphics. The first considers overall scores and the second looks at those scores by race. The graphic begins by listing several of the questions posed by the teachers, such as whether students could read simple books by themselves and whether they could solve number problems. The stated takeaway from the infographic is that “teachers should use the findings to make kindergarten more interesting and engaging, not to ladle on more academics that might not be appropriate.”
4) Trends in Online Education/ Scholarly Articles
This simple and engaging graphic presents facts such as the impact of the recession on online education and the size of the online education industry. Pie charts detail the increases, decreases or static nature of education institution budgets and break down education trends into completely online, blended, web-facilitated or traditional modes. It also investigates trends by type of institution: private for-profit, private non-profit, online and face-to-face and public institutions that offer online components.
5) How Live Video is Changing the Classroom
This infographic shows the impact of digital educational aids at every level. It points out that students are comfortable with digital devices and expect some digital content. It also makes the case that 62 percent of educators believe that video makes teachers more effective. The infographic notes that the average college student owns more than six digital devices and discusses ways that video can be implemented in education.
This list is obviously not exhaustive. There are so many trends in education that keeping abreast of the newest is virtually impossible. Some trends are cyclic, but things like online education and the use of video and livestreaming in education will continue. The trends in education highlighted by these simple and effective infographics will impact education from the lowest grades to the college classroom.
