Morten Fahlvik Educational Reseracher - itslearningtwitter.com/Fahlvik

Using word clouds to identify difficult vocabulary

Working with large groups of students, it can be challenging to see where each student is with their understanding, yet still deal with the entire class.

Word clouds can help teachers and students to visualise which words the students find difficult, and at the same time give students notion of that they are not the only one wondering about a specific issue or are uncertain of the mearning of taught concepts. 

Searching for difficult words

Collecting words for a word cloud

The students came forward to the teacher and read the words they had marked out. The teacher wrote those words into the word cloud generator (http://www.wordle.net/)

The word cloud visualise which words several students struggle with……

…. and it is quite obvious which words that need attention.