{"id":3157,"date":"2021-04-02T09:28:59","date_gmt":"2021-04-02T13:28:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.tlsrv.net\/teach-for-america\/"},"modified":"2024-10-02T13:58:01","modified_gmt":"2024-10-02T12:58:01","slug":"teach-for-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/teach-for-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Teach for America Creates Interactive Infographic with ThingLink and Canva to Explore Equity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A youth-adult fellowship used online graphic design platform Canva when creating a highly impactful thinglink to showcase video testimonials. This memorable and thought-provoking piece of work put a sociological theory into practice in a brilliantly simple way.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Teach for America<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.teachforamerica.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Teach for America<\/a> was founded in 1990 and is an organisation established to improve the educational opportunities for children from low-income communities across the United States. TfA recruits a diverse corps of teachers for an initial two-years in high-need schools. It has since grown to foster Teach for All, a network of partner organizations across the globe.<span style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #4b4b4b;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aditi Garg is a graduate in government and politics and a former member of the corps from Cleveland, OH. Having trained as an early years teacher with TfA she now works as program director on the TfA staff working mainly in Ohio.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"tl-cta-block\"><h3>Grab a free ThingLink trial!<\/h3><p>To see just how easy it is to create interactive content with ThingLink, try a free trial account today.<\/p><button class=\"tl-button tl-button--white tl-button--small tl-cta-block__button\" data-link=\"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\">start your free trial<\/button><\/section>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Enduring Ideas Fellowship<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Aditi currently works with \u201cThe Reinvention Lab\u201d, an exploratory space established by TfA in 2019. Here, young people, parents, caregivers, leaders and educators both inside and outside of TfA consider the future of learning and of the organization. In summer 2020 the Lab established the \u201cEnduring Ideas Fellowship\u201d &#8211; a diverse coalition of young people and adults from across America.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/f.hubspotusercontent30.net\/hubfs\/603436\/Aditi%20Garg.gif\" alt=\"Aditi Garg\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Aditi Garg, Teach for America<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Transforming the future of teaching<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The fellows were asked to explore how adults in educational non-profit organisations can co-create and innovate successfully and meaningfully alongside young people, to transform the future of teaching in an equitable way. The big questions they explored were, in a post-pandemic world \u201cWhy can\u2019t we just go back to school as usual? <em>What might be possible instead?<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From the fall they met online weekly to explore changes that needed to happen within the organisation and in the education system. Global best practices that disrupt the traditional models of teaching were explored and the fellows discussed what could be applied at TfA. They also made decisions on how to assign funding to some of these bodies via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.enduringideas.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Enduring Ideas Fund<\/a>. In groups of 5-6 the fellows were then charged with creating an artefact to reflect their learnings that could be shared with others to promote the work of the fellowship.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Ladder of Youth Participation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The group of adults and young people that Aditi was in chose to create an interactive graphic using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ThingLink<\/a> in which their audience could be participants rather than passive viewers. It was based on the concept of The \u201cLadder of Youth Participation\u201d. This concept, originally developed by Roger Hart in the 1990s, identifies 8 levels of children&#8217;s participation in projects. At the bottom rung is manipulation and at the top, youth-initiated, shared decisions with adults. The group discussed and demonstrated past individual experiences either in education or in youth activities and considered which rung these occupied. They also recorded external interviews with other young people to illustrate real examples for each rung. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/card\/1418627914257137665\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1524\" style=\"width: 1524px;\" src=\"https:\/\/f.hubspotusercontent30.net\/hubfs\/603436\/Screenshot%202021-03-24%20at%2016.29.51.png\" alt=\"Screenshot 2021-03-24 at 16.29.51\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>ThingLink + Canva<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Emma Jhoanna Tilitile, a talented young Hawaiian designer in the fellowship, created and developed the visual content for the artefact in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.canva.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Canva<\/a> and worked on the template for the scenario imagery, infographic and layout, as well as the front page which frames the ladder and the choice grid. Emily and Khalilah (young people and high school students) and Delia (an adult partner who also works with the Reinvention Lab), worked on the content and questions and edited and integrated the videos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They realised that they could use the conditional transitions function to really engage us as the viewer in each scenario, demanding that we make an active personal assessment of where we think each scenario sits on the ladder. In this way, as viewers, we are seeing each scenario from the perspective of someone who felt they had limited agency in a real situation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This combination of a bold and impactful infographic design containing clear and intuitive links to video testimonials of real experiences is a prime example of how to use <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/canva\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the Canva+ThingLink integration<\/a> to powerful effect. It demonstrates how to bring a concept alive in real world context and ensure the salient points are made both understandable and importantly, memorable using interactive elements.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/f.hubspotusercontent30.net\/hubfs\/603436\/Screenshot%202021-03-24%20at%2016.41.55-1.png\" alt=\"Screenshot 2021-03-24 at 16.41.55-1\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/scene\/1418627914257137665\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/scene\/1418627914257137665\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The thinglink<\/a> was originally shared at a fellowship showcase with specially invited guests who participated in the ladder activity. After going through the activity, they were asked:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>\u201cAfter reviewing these examples, consider, where does your leadership naturally fall when using this tool and what variables impact that?\u201d.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reactions from the audience after exploring the thinglink demonstrated how effectively it had illustrated the concept of the ladder.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p><em>\u201cIt was really interesting engaging in this ladder to consider the relationship between intention and experience. If more adults were aware of this ladder, might we be more intentional about how we engage with students?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p><em>\u201cI really appreciated this [thinglink]&#8230;it gave me a chance to interact with it, in a way that I could \u201cmess up\u201d- and I could learn from it! I really liked that.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>This incredibly powerful and thought-provoking thinglink was presented on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.enduringideas.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Enduring Ideas website<\/a> and may also used as a starting point for future rounds of fellowships. You can follow updates from Teach for America via their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/teachforamerica\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Instagram account<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cIt felt playful&#8230;but also aesthetically pleasing&#8230;and we could create it really quickly! Overall it was a really great platform for the things we were looking for.\u201d <\/p>\n<cite>Aditi Garg, Teach for America&nbsp;<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Using infographics with ThingLink<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Infographics are a compelling choice as base media in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thinglink.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ThingLink<\/a> because they synergize the best of visual storytelling and concise data representation. With the rise of content marketing, the appeal of infographics has grown exponentially due to their ability to present complex data in a digestible and visually captivating manner. When  infographics are integrated into ThingLink, they transform into dynamic, clickable canvases that can house a plethora of multimedia elements, further enhancing data visualization and engagement for the audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.canva.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Canva<\/a> is an ideal infographic maker for beginners, with thousands of fonts, visual elements, photos, and free tutorials on design. Simply download your design as a jpg or png file and upload to ThingLink as your base media. Alternatively you can use the Canva integration within the ThingLink editor to create your design. Canva have a huge range of infographic templates to get you started. As well as static infographics, you can even incorporate some of their animation templates to create an animated infographic video. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Examples of interactive infographics in action in ThingLink<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In these blogs we look at various types of infographics, maps and other graphics:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/how-do-you-create-interactive-maps\/\" target=\"_blank\">How do you create interactive maps?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/best-interactive-infographics\/\" target=\"_blank\">Best interactive infographics<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/three-great-examples-interactive-infographics-thinglink\/\" target=\"_blank\">Interactive infographic examples<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/how-to-create-interactive-infographics-canva-thinglink\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How to create an interactive infographic with ThingLink and Canva<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Further questions?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">As well as contacting us if you have any questions, please join our social media communities and connect with ThingLink Educators. We are incredibly proud of our groups, how they embrace ideas and share, they will only be too pleased to welcome you!&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Facebook <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/ThingLinkEducation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ThingLink Education<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/532669946920093\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Finland<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/thinglinkitalia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Italia<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/2803843159682323\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Espana<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/375590356956968\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Israel<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/thinglinkindia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">India&nbsp;<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>X\/<span style=\"color: #000000;\">Twitter<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThingLink\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> ThingLink<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThingLink_EDU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ThingLink Education&nbsp;<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"tl-cta-block\"><h3>Meet a product expert<\/h3><p>If you\u2019d like to learn more about what ThingLink can offer to your organisation, you can schedule an online meeting with one of our product experts below.<\/p><button class=\"tl-button tl-button--white tl-button--small tl-cta-block__button\" data-link=\"https:\/\/calendly.com\/andrew-6\/thinglinkdemo\">Meet an Expert<\/button><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A youth-adult fellowship used online graphic design platform Canva when creating a highly impactful thinglink to showcase video testimonials. This memorable and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":10328,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[477,565,491,568],"tags":[244,238,267,177,273,158],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3157"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3157"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10331,"href":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3157\/revisions\/10331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}