Worst Teacher Visualization Ever — Bicycle of Education

So Bad It's Good – The Worst Teacher Visualization

Looking for the worst teacher visualization ever? Well, I found it on Twitter. While it might not help you get new teaching ideas, it will show you an example of what not to do. Or it just mightmake you laugh. I watch social media closely and it's my job to share some of the hot topics on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and other outlets that teachers, principals, students, and parents are contributing.

Dan McCabe posted an inspirational infographic on his Twitter account recently. That is, inspirational in the “mine can't be that bad” way. Welcome to the “Bicycle of Education” infographic (which McCabe smartly left credits off for). You can see the image below.

It's easy to see what the graphic's creator was trying to accomplish. They were attempting to show how a class works if it were a bicycle, with teachers and students in charge of movement, handle bars maintaining the pacing, and so on. The end result is confusing. There are just too many lines and words pointing at small, difficult to identify parts at the top. Other sections are difficult to understand, like the “co-managing” in the center or the strange pie-charts inside the wheels that leave too much interpretation. Other parts are just too obvious, like the teacher seat leading the student seats.

It's difficult to see what the point of the graphic is. It doesn't attempt to teach anything. The only use I could imagine for this graphic is either as an example of a bad graphic, something to laugh about, or it's trying to explain to aliens from outer space how the Western classroom works as we could assume they'd have no understanding of how things run (not that they'd understand how a bicycle works either).

What is the worst graphic you've come across? Do you understand the purpose behind this graphic?

Tori Pakizer is the Social Media Editor at SimpleK12.com. She writes regularly about the use of educational technology in K-12 classrooms, and specializes in how teachers use Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and other social media. You can follow Tori and SimpleK12 on Twitter @SimpleK12. If you have ideas for using social media in schools, please send your information or tip to editor@simplek12.com.