Module 6

The chapter that addressed my Career Prep class the most was Chapter 9, Teaching and Listening with Technology in English and Language Arts. "The last decade has seen growing emphasis on the use of technologies to support literacy instruction" (Roblyer and Doering, 2013, p.272). This chapter presented several resources that I could use in my class. One resource that really stood out to me was the integration of word clouds. This particular tool can “offer a motivating environment for engaging students with words” (Roblyer and Doering, 2013, p.273).


Advantages
Roblyer and Doering (2013), discuss one new strategy that helps foster reading and writing skills is word clouds. Word clouds are a great way to “build vocabulary skills using new technologies” (Roblyer and Doering, 2013, p.268). This can be adapted to focus on specific business vocabulary the students will need in their careers. Wordle (http://www.wordle.net) is an example of a website that produces word clouds. This could be used to familiarize students with common words used in business communications. Students can input the words from business text and the Wordle will reveal the commonly used words of importance. This particular website is fairly easy to use and produces results that are extremely easy to read in a very professional manner.

This website offers ways to integrate word clouds in the classroom:
http://www.web2teachingtools.com/wordle.html




Another great resource of how to use Wordle in the classroom:

M6 50 ways to use Wordle in the classroom http://t.co/cQ5t7nhM6B via @SlideShare #ED527UM
— Bart Raulston (@BartRaulston) November 17, 2013

M6 Check out "35 Ways of Using Word Clouds in Language Teaching" on @eflclassroom http://t.co/t1HxRLf3xW #ED527UM
— Bart Raulston (@BartRaulston) November 17, 2013

Disadvantages

"Technologies have also brought about dramatic change in the format and types of communication" (Roblyer and Doering, 2013, p.266). For example, in a word cloud, text doesn't read from left to right as the reader is traditionally used to viewing. Instead, it can go in many different directions which can confuse students who have trouble interpreting new information.
While word clouds are great visual representations, they are just a starting point and do not provide any definitions to the words. The teacher has to direct the students as to finding the definition and how the word cloud can be applied to the lesson. Another disadvantage is that you have to make sure all computers are up to date with the appropriate plugins (flash, java, etc.). Without these, you will not be able to see your produced word cloud. Another possible disadvantage is that all the results are based upon student input. So in other words, if the students don’t accurately input the words, then the word cloud will not consistent. Tagxedo (http://www.tagxedo.com) is another word cloud website that provides a few more options than Wordle. However, it is a little more complicated to operate so students could struggle with the process.

This website helps address some of the problems that users encounter with Tagxedo:
http://mrsteachnology.blogspot.com/2012/07/tagxedo-roster-tutorial.html