The Infographics Assignment: A Qualitative Study of Students and Professionals

by Tiffany Derville Gallicano, Ph.D., Daradirek Gee Ekachai, Ph.D. and Karen Freberg, Ph.D
Many 21st century educators are constantly seeking out new teaching strategies and tools that will
allow their students to think deeper about the material, work collaboratively to produce artifacts
to show mastery, and better engage them by relating the material and projects showing realworld applicability. Science is filled with collecting, reporting, and analyzing data. It is only
prudent to train students to work with data and make information meaningful in a visual way
(Edelman, 2012, p. 4). Particularly because educators understand how increasingly important it is
to teach student visual communication since they are bombarded by digital media, and have
succumbed to reduced attention spans (Kim & Chung, 2012; Lester, 2012).
This study looks at strategies for teaching an infographics assignment and documenting learning
outcomes using five focus groups with 37 students and three universities and interviews with 15
public relations professionals in various workplace settings. The students were tasked with
creating an infographic for a client using real-world information and statistics. One university
had to persuade the public on either cause or product-related, another university tasked its
students to report something of public interest, and the third university gave a similar task of
something trend, cause, or product relatedsuch as Angry Birds addiction and consumers, or the
growth of mobile technologies.
Following the assignment, students were put into focus groups to provide the professors with
information regarding the value of the assignment, how an infographics assignment be better
taught to public relations students. One of the challenges of the study was the focus groups were
comprised of the professors own students, so getting authentic opinions was of concern. This
problem was circumvented by informing the students that the assignment was an experiment, and

that their collective feedback regarding the assignment would determine how to present this
assignment to future classes, if at all. The University of Oregon had 15 focus group students,
University of Louisville had 8 participants, while Marquette University had 14; each containing
7 to 8 students in each group.
The data collected was examined through a thematic analysis by looking at common patterns.
Overall support came from both students and public relationship professionals for teaching the
assignment (Gallicano, Ekachai, & Freberg, 2014). Both students and professionals found great
value in the infographic assignment. Students find it useful to help them refine their writing,
research, and visual storytelling skills (Gallicano, et. al, p. 8). Public relations professional
believe the popularity of infographics has peaked, but are here to stay.
The designers of this study were clever in how they got the students to be candid about the
assignment, first by making in an extra credit assignment, then by telling them that their opinions
will help better shape future courses. It is clear that regardless of the type of course infographics
are used for, the effective way they report data complex information makes it a tool that is here
to stay.
References
Gallicano, T. D., Ph.D., Ekachai, D. G., Ph.D., & Freberg, K., Ph.D. (2014). The infographics
assignment: A qualitative study of students and professionals perspectives. Public
Relations Journal, 8(4), winter, 1-22. Retrieved July 14, 2015, from
http://www.prsa.org/Intelligence/PRJournal/Documents/2014GallicanoEkachaiFreberg.pd
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Kim, Y. S., & Chung, D. S. (2012). Exploring the current state of and future directions for visual
communication curriculum in the United States. Visual Communication Quarterly, 19(3),
134-147. doi:10.1080/15551393.2012.706569