Revising in the (Word) Cloud

Presenter: Elizabeth Stearns

Organization: Red Rocks Community College

Role: Instructor

Track: Demonstration

Topic: Technology and Media

Level: For Mere Mortals

Abstract: Participants will learn the advantages of and strategies for incorporating word cloud software as a revision tool in classroom contexts emphasizing writing.

Bio: Elizabeth Stearns has taught a variety of composition, literature, and humanities courses over the last eight years and continues to seek ways to incorporate technology into her classrooms in ways that will enhance student engagement with the texts that they read and write. She has integrated word cloud revision strategies successfully into her own composition classrooms, and is excited to share this simple but effective tool with COLTT participants.

Description: In this demonstration, participants will discover how to utilize word clouds as revision tools in writing classrooms and contexts. Word clouds are clusters of words organized by the frequency with which terms appear in a text, and they highlight the ideas that are most prevalent in a piece of writing. By utilizing word clouds, writers can judge at a glance which aspects of their texts are most prominent, and use this information to plan revisions. Word cloud software is available freely on the Internet and can evaluate texts of any length. While the session is not a hands-on workshop, participants who have a personal laptop with wi-fi connectivity will be able to test out the technology for themselves during the presentation.