ERIC Number: EJ1212369
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1049-4820
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Available Date: N/A
Using Word Clouds to Support Students' Knowledge Integration from Online Inquiry: An Investigation of the Process and Outcome
Xie, Ying; Lin, Shu-Yuan
Interactive Learning Environments, v27 n4 p478-496 2019
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.
Descriptors: Undergraduate Students, Web Sites, Scaffolding (Teaching Technique), Inquiry, Cognitive Mapping, Learning Activities, Electronic Publishing, Online Searching, Outcome Measures, Word Lists, Preservice Teachers, Word Frequency, Visual Aids, Cues, Self Management, Knowledge Representation
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
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