Peer Review

Wordle

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Reviewed:: Mar 25, 2016 by Teacher Education

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: Wordle is a word cloud creator that exports words into word cloud images. It is a tool that teachers can integrate into lesson plans within several disciplines including vocabulary building, history lessons, science, and much more. This tool may also be used to enhance dull and boring online lectures with interesting word images that break up the text while reinforcing vocabulary and content of the web page.
Type of Material:: Development Tool
Recommended Uses:: Wordle would best be used in-class as part of literary analysis, both of literature as well as student created writings. In addition, because Wordle's word clouds provide a quick overview of repeated themes, they would fit well in a lecture at the beginning of a semester or unit. Teachers can use Wordles to engage students with word dumps of need-to-know material, vocabulary lists and reminder words that are important to a specific lesson.
Technical Requirements:: The latest version of Java must be installed on the computer. Java based applications do not work on Google Chrome, so Mac users should use Firefox or Safari.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: Wordle itself does not include specific learning goals, however it helps learners/users see a passage's patterns and themes quickly through pictures. Teachers can use a Wordle to present concepts that students need to learn. Fonts can be changed to give more attention to certain words that students could focus on.
Target Student Population:: Elementary through college students.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Cut and paste is the biggest skill used with a wordle.

Content Quality

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Strengths:: Although users provide their own content, Wordle presents information in a manner that is easy for the viewer to process and understand. The program addresses the visual learner and addresses the need for those learners to see and read what they are learning.
Concerns:: None.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

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Strengths:: Wordle is a versatile tool that can be adapted to any subject matter at any level. The visually stunning word clouds Wordle produces help faculty guide students to make connections with the topic of instruction. Some suggested ideas would be to introduce a unit or theme or as an aid to revise student writing. Students could use a Wordle to learn specific vocabulary.
Concerns:: Not all included fonts will import Spanish accents into a word cloud, although some will.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

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Strengths:: Creating a wordle is incredibly easy. Wordle generates word clouds from text copied and pasted into a box on the Wordle site or from the URL of any blog, blog feed, or any other web page that has an Atom or RSS feed. Wordle's clear layout makes it simple for users to edit the language, font, layout and color of their word clouds. Tabs with a detailed FAQ section as well as a Google Forum are included for further assistance if needed. Word clouds can easily be exported as a .png file, saved as a screenshot, or printed. The FAQ explains in detail how to save as a .pdf or .svg file. This is as easy as cut and paste or manually enter words into a box. To generate the Wordle, all one needs to do is click "Go."
Concerns:: None, but users should note that they cannot save the wordle as a .jpeg file.

Other Issues and Comments:: Wordle.net has changed significantly since its first creation, and in a way that benefits teachers. The previous version of Wordle allowed users to view recently created wordles from all users; some content could potentially be inappropriate for classroom use. The present site, however, has been changed so that when the splash page is opened, users see the same four example Wordles every time.
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