Word Clouds and Creative Learning

by captainfisticuffs

My word cloud. I think it left out the words “single” and “available.”

Hey y’all. This lovely thing above is known as a word cloud. There are these online programs such as Tagxedo or Wordle that take a URL or block of text and create these word-based pictures based on the words you give it. The more important or common the word, the larger it is. In fact, this word cloud was made from the very blog you are currently reading.

Now we (I and my fellow Composition classmates) have been discussing how word clouds can be used to teach or cultivate creativity. To help investigate this, our teacher gave us a rubric titled “The Capacities for Imaginative Learning,” formulated by the Lincoln Center Institute as an identifier for creative material. So basically, we need to weigh word clouds against this rubric. In this post, I’ll be focusing on just a few items on the rubric which I think that word clouds carry well.

Embodying (to experience [an object of study] through your senses, as well as emotionally, and also to physically represent that experience): After making my own word cloud, I immediately realized that it carried a strong emotional feeling. The certain combination of words gave me distinct feelings and thoughts. And while doing this, it manifested itself in an aesthetically pleasing illustration. It really does a bang up job at taking your own thoughts and feelings put into writing and making something beautiful and creative out of them.

Questioning (To ask questions throughout your explorations that further your own learning; to ask the question, “What if?”): I believe that word clouds are a great method self-reflection (that is, if you use your original writing to create them). A word cloud is composed of words significant to you, but you may not be aware that you use these words as you do. By doing this, a word cloud can prompt you to ask questions about yourself: Why do these specific words appear? How do these words describe me? Do these words accurately describe me? If you want to get really deep, you may use your word cloud to identify aspects of yourself you may not like and wish to change or get rid of. I almost did that. O_O

Identifying Patterns (To find relationships among the details you notice in [an object of study], group them, and recognize patterns): VIOLIN, ORCHESTRA, PLAYING, MUSICIAN, ART, INSTRUMENT. I think you can see where I’m going with this. If there is a common theme in writing, a word cloud will point that out. Obviously it found out that I talk a lot about music in this blog. (And Tagxedo even let me shape my word cloud into a treble clef!) Being able to notice and illustrate patterns is one way that a word cloud can be a vessel for creative learning.