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Providing visuals is a great way to provide extra support to students. Due to the nature of technology and social media, today’s students heavily rely on visual learning techniques. I have even noticed that proving a photo with information for parents (fundraiser invite) receives more feedback and interaction that the same information shared with families in a text format (newsletter or email). Our culture values visual information, and as teachers we can provide visual learning supports.
Providing visuals is valuable to reluctant or early readers, including ELL students. The visuals, especially related to new vocabulary, help students understand what is being talked about and discussed in the classroom. Using visuals provides context for students who may not be able to read the information.
Many useful and powerful tools for creating visuals and images exist. My favorite tools to use are Google Draw (https://drawings.google.com/) Google Slides (https://slide.google.com). I often will insert drawings I use into Slides. Slides is especially great to create infographics. Here is an example of a visual I made for a previous GCU class about the brain: https://tinyurl.com/y4txuhdb.
Students can apply ISTE for Students 3c: Students curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions, by creating visuals of what they have learned. These visuals can be displayed in the classroom to reinforce learning or shared on the class website or social media feeds to share learning with an authentic audience.
Teachers should use the opportunity to create visuals as a time to teach digital citizenship. Teachers can discuss the importance of copyright and providing credit when using content and images created by another. The teacher could have the students reflect on how they would feel if someone used the visuals they created without providing credit.
Check out Kasey Bell's website for a wide variety of Google Slide tips. Specifically, check out episode 77 and 78 of her podcast, "Shake Up Learning". Kasey provides great visuals and tutorials, including how to make an infographic in Google Slides.
A drawing I made for a previous GCU class about brain function. I used clip art, shapes, and text boxes to highlight different aspects of what I learned about the brain.
Finding Transparent Clip Art
Finding Transparent Clip Art
I like to use clip art with transparent backgrounds when making my visuals. This helps create a better image. Including "transparent" often does not yield results in a Google search. Use tools like remove.bg to upload images and remove the background. They have editing tools to ensure your image is what you need.
This page was created as part of the requirements for TEC 561: Multimedia Instructional Strategies and Methods
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