INFOGRAPHICS WITH COSPACES

Lesson complexity: Difficult/Average user

Introduction:

Build and create infographics in a virtual 3D world and benefit from the possibilities that a third dimension brings! Infographics can be a nice add-on for presentations in numerous areas such as charts or tables, graphs and even timelines. 3D infographics can be very complex and not necessarily better in 3D, but the camera can be adjusted for a clearer view.

Benefits:

• Encourage creativity and research processes • Practice spatial and critical thinking skills • Experience how information can be displayed and processed most effectively

Activity examples:

1. Show some example infographics to your students. 2. Get your students’ to think about where infographics could be useful and when or

why they might need one. 3. Assign a topic to each student and ask them to research for the necessary

information to create an infographic. 4. Combine the research with CoSpaces and create. 5. Have students’ share their spaces and discuss why they chose to display the

information as they did.

CREATION GUIDE If you don’t choose a background landscape then there will be a handy grid on the stage that can be used to align objects in CoSpaces.

The scale controls in the object menu are handy if you need to work with numbers and proportions; they show if the object is default size (=1), double its size (=2) or half (=0.5). The flexible objects have additional controls for dimensions such as length, width and height; with these, for example, you can create a roughly accurate bar graph.

For text, you can add markers to the floor, set up information panels, assign speech bubbles to an object as well as give them a name. Markers and panels provide the possibility to customize color and size, and they will always keep their position no matter from which angle you look at them. Speech bubbles and name tags cannot be customized but they do adapt their position so they are always visible.

If you’re designing an infographic specifically for virtual reality, make sure the objects are facing the middle of the stage. Try to avoid hiding important information behind objects that might block the view. Adjust the camera settings to your benefit; for example, position your objects in a circle around the stage and place the camera in a fixed position in the centre - that way, when you are in VR, you’ll be able to look up, down and around at the information on display. When building your infographic, check the VR version regularly to see how information is being displayed.

A NEW LEVEL OF CLASSROOM CREATIVITY

EXAMPLE SPACES

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