I took time to explore various kinds of word cloud tools. The tool that I thought was most accessible and creative was WordArt. Just like the name says, this tool is capable of creating a word cloud as an art. The tool has different customizations such as words, shapes, fonts, layout, and style. Most importantly, it is effortless to create your own word cloud. As an individual who appreciates art, out of all the other tools, I would be more impacted by the work of Wordart if I were to see the same word cloud used with the different tools. In order to save the image, it is required you to create an account. If you would just like to print it right away, there is no need to create an account. The best thing I liked about Wordart is that you have various choices in what shape you would like your word cloud to be in. I specifically chose a bear because I am known as being a bear-like person among my friends. So I thought that it was great there were many choices in different shapes.

I have also taken a look at the Monkey Learn Word Cloud Generator. I thought this sort of design would be suitable for the older audience like middle or high schoolers in a school setting. The UI was very easy to utilize. Instead of making the word cloud a shape, this has several different themes of color you can pick. Within the set colors, you are able to change the color of the background and text as you wish. The Monkey Learn did not have as many fonts available compared to the WordArt Generator; however, I believe that it is not that important as long as it conveys the overall theme to the audience.

It hasn’t been too long since I saw a word cloud being utilized in an educational setting. I remember seeing one in high school during our American History class. The teacher would teach about a specific era, such as World War II, and would put up a word cloud on the screen for us to get a grasp of what the keywords were during that era. I am not sure if I was specifically using Wordart in an education setting just because I think the shapes might be a bit too distracting for the students. In order to successfully use this tool, I would make students create a word cloud about what they think and expect about the class. Then, after the semester ends, I would ask them to create another word cloud on the same thing and see how it differs. I could also use it as an ice-breaker where I make students create a word cloud for a partner they’re matched with and briefly share to the class.