D.+Resource+(v)+WORDLE

__From Text To Visual Impact… __

__ Tool: //Wordle// __

__Overview:__ A further tool of interest is // Wordle //. // Wordle // is a GAE application produced by Google. It was created by Jonathan Feinberg as a personal project supported by his employer IBM. The text and design of the web site itself are Copyright © 2009 Jonathan Feinberg, and all rights are reserved. According to the FAQ page the content of this site is able to be filtered thus making it able to be used within a classroom setting.

// Wordle // is a Java applet production located at the following URL:

[] __Implications for learning and teaching:__ 

With my focus moving away from the traditional focus of teaching centred delivery which, according to Broussard, Meyers and Lemoine (2009), results in passive learning - the scope of focus then turned to student centred approach. As indicated by Broussard, Meyers and Lemoine (2009), the student centred approach requires the students to be active in their learning and access tools and equipment to enhance their experience. In searching for an activity that would provide an alternative to textual overload, yet still reinforce the key points of a session- in essence providing a summary where the teacher could ascertain what learning had occurred, I have stumbled on an excellent application for this resource. This is demonstrated in the example below of a reflective activity that allows students to depart from the usual form of contributions and is indicted by Conrad and Donaldson (2004 pp. 73-83) to be an engaging reflective activity. These contributions when added to a gallery/ forum allow other students to view the student created resources; the learning points are reinforced in a less demanding way. The word cloud function enables a list of text to be manipulated into a 'work of art'. See as example my first effort below:

[|infection control example.mht]

How can this be used within a teaching environment- specifically for nursing and health studies? As part of their routine duties, nurses provide education to clients parents and significant others in order to facilitate quality patient care. The issue becomes how to pass on this information in a way that will encourage the recipient to absorb meaning from the education.

My effort in Infection Control (see above) resulted in a visual engagement with only a few words from which the student can solicit meaning. It is comparable to the traditional note taking with a dot point format, only represented more artistically and therefore, with potential for engagement. This site would also be useful for developing graphics to enhance visual engagement of a Moodle site.

In regard to education of peers - which becomes a fundamental component to the concept of life long learning as expressed by Nayda and Rankin (1996), this tool is an innovative addition. It moves away from the traditional message on a poster- too frequently seen within a hospital environment - resulting in detachment where a potential audience is no longer captivated or even notices the printed message as an effect of over-exposure(Gallopoel- Le Gall-Ely, Rejeunnier & Urien 2009). The mix of words encourages more than a passing glance. This is added to by the impact of colour and variation of font with research showing that visual impacts are more effective than the textual message alone (Gallopoel- Le Gall-Ely, Rejeunnier & Urien 2009).

The main disadvantage of the site is public access. If you chose to save your creation it is accessible to the public. You cannot save the creation to a disk or any other type of personal storage device however, you can take a screen shot of the creation or otherwise print it out. It is at this point that the “keep it simple” process becomes unstuck. By use of screenshots, printing then rescanning or cropping and adjusting through pasting into another document…. a simple process has become far more complex. Notarianni, Curry-Lourence, Barham and Palmer (2009) indicate that there is a variation in the way different generations learn and they also depict the skills and needs of the “Net Generation” compared to the “Baby Boomers”. In an effort to not impose barriers on mature age students who make up the majority of my student cohort- suddenly a useful simplistic tool disappeared from the radar due to the difficulties imposed in downloading and saving.,

The site blog indicates a number of issues raised by students attempting to use the tool. One particular struck a chord in illustrating the point above- a mother was trying to assist her child who was required to use this site as for a school project. She was unable to access the technology:

// “I can't get it to work, clicked on your not working link and just about choked, do you really think the average parent has the time to try and figure out what is wrong - really upgrading Java possibly, firewall issues, we are not programmers. Any tool that can not be easily used won't be used. I'm not wasting any more time trying to figure out why my computer won't let me run your program, again just an average user here” // // Posted Thursday, November 18, 2010. //

References:

Broussard, L, Mayers, R & Lemoine, J 2009, 'Preparing pediatric nurses: the role of simulation-based learning', // Issues in Comprehensive Pediatric Nursing, // vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 4-15, (online EBSCOhost).

Conrad, R & Donaldson, J 2004, Engaging the Online Learner, Wiley imprint, San Francisco.

Gallopoel- Morvan G, Le Gall-Ely, M Rejeunnier, S & Urien, B, 2009, ' The use of visual warnings in social marketing: The case of tobacco', // Journal of Business Research, // April.

Nayda R & Rankin, E 1996, ' Information literacy skill development and life long learning: exploring nursing students’ and academics’ understandings', // Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing //, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 29-36.

Todd, N 2009, ‘Converting an undergraduate nursing course to mostly online’ //Distance Learning,// vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 15-22//, (//online EBSCOhost).