Web Tools

Some days ago, I was reading my mate’s blogs and I found something that caught my attention… “Wordle”

This web tool creates “clouds” of words that can be used as kind of “brainstorming” during a lesson. In order to create a cloud, you can introduce an URL (from where the website will choose words) or a text. I think that giving students the same or different clouds made up with words from a story they know and ask them to write a new one can be really interesting; they are asked to be creative and original and, I think, for them this is a challenge (trying to create something completely different from the things they know).

Criteria:

* Availability: This web tool is for free; so everyone can have access to it.

* Digital Literacy: This is the capacity to efficiently and critically navigate, appraise and generate information using digital technologies. ‘Wordle’ can act as a tool to start thinking critically about a word, as the term literacy implies.

* Accessibility: This criterion has to do with whether the web tool can be used with different platforms. For using ‘Wordle,’ you only need Java applets.

* Prolonged use: This web tool can be used a lot of times since the content of the word cloud can vary according to the topic you are dealing with.

* Registration: There’s no need for registration.

* Security: In the FAQ section, there are some advices in order to report non-desirable content. However, the web tool lacks a moderator or filter.

* ‘Wordle’ is really easy to use and understand. The stages to create a word cloud are explained very well and they should not bring any problem.

So, let me present you my Wordle!

The words were taken from a narrative I wrote for the Language I course.