Using word clouds to support students’ knowledge integration from online inquiry: an investigation of the process and outcome

ABSTRACT

This study reports the effects of using word clouds to support students’ knowledge integration from online inquiry as demonstrated by blog posts, tags and concept maps. Fifty-four undergraduate students from a medium-sized university in the northwestern United States were randomly assigned into two groups and blogged for five weeks. To support students’ online searching activity, the treatment group was provided a list of concepts in the format of a word cloud. The control group received the same list of concepts in an alphabetic order. Data analyses included comparing participant-attached tags and individual concept maps to the instructor’s keyword list. Results revealed that the word clouds facilitated the construction of schema in a top-down deductive approach, which could be a meaningful and efficient way of learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Knowledge integration
• tagging
• word cloud
• online inquiry

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Ying Xie Assistant Professor of Instructional Technology. Her current research focuses on the integration of emerging technologies and creation of cognitive tools to promote reflective thinking, higher-order learning, and knowledge construction.

Shu-Yuan Lin Clinical Associate Professor in Idaho State University. Her research interests and special projects are focused on computer-based prewriting strategies, English as a second/new/foreign language instruction, standards-based teacher assessments, technology integration in K-16 instruction, and cultural and linguistic diversity in higher education.

ORCID

Ying Xie http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9189-6046