Scientific infographics in the university classroom. Design, implementation and results of the project “Visualízalo”

Abstract

In this article, we provide a detailed account of the design process, implementation phase and results of a teaching innovation project aimed at training undergraduate and graduate students in ways to design, compose and disseminate scientific infographics. The project –titled Visualize It: Infographics on Government, Administration and Public Policy– involved a rather broad group of teachers from the Autonomous University of Madrid, in collaboration with teachers from other Spanish universities (UCM, URJC, UCLM, EHU-UPV and UdG), and was conducted during the academic years of 2020/2021 and 2021/2022. This article first offers a theoretical approach to the concept of infographics, and then it gives a detailed account of infographics usefulness both as a teaching and work-related tool. After that, we offer a description of the way in which this practice was designed, giving the reader a detailed account of the methodology used for its implementation and of the implementation phase itself. Then, we compile the results obtained in surveys distributed to students and teachers, aimed at measuring the effects, levels of success and failures of this practice. The article closes with a brief discussion of these very results, and with a list with some ways to improve and/or optimize it.