4 Word Cloud products reviewed

The post is going to be a little different from my others. Today I am going to be talking about Word Clouds. For those of you not to sure what a Word Cloud is, here is an example.

Word Clouds are quickly becoming a great way to gauge student knowledge on a subject (KWL charts), questions they might have, or show what they know. With this great increase on Word Clouds there are many different websites out there to use for Word Clouds; but which one will work best for me? This is the reason for this post. I am going to go over some of the top searched and used websites.

1.) ABCYA.com- This website is REALLY geared toward younger grades of students. The set-up, colors, and how to use their word cloud is great for primary. While this does allow younger students to create their word cloud it does not offer as many options as other sites. In addition, you do not need to sign up to use it, however it is suggested since they have a class login button. Please click here to check it out.

• Glitchy Rating: I give this a 4 since this really works for primary grades, NOT suitable for upper grades.
• User Rating: Level 1 since it is so user friendly and no videos are needed to start using this product.

2.) Tagul- This is a more detailed site for students and teachers to use. While this offers multiple different ways to customize the word cloud for the students to choose from, it can get overwhelming. This is NOT a product to use with younger grades because of all the options. Should your students be able to figure it out (and let's face it they will) the results are great! This seems to be a product where the students would be able to finish in a short amount of time (20-30 minutes) Please click here to check it out.

• Glitchy Rating: I would give this a 3 because it does take time to be able to know and use all the great benefits of the program. Again, this is great for upper grades not for primary grades.
• User Rating: This would be a level 3 for teachers and a level 2 for students because it does take some finesse to understand and access all the different customizations available.

3.) Tagxedo- I would not recommend this program to teachers. This program is confusing and would take a lot of training not only on the teacher's behalf but students as well to use this system. I struggled to access the system myself.

• Glitchy Rating: I give this site a 1 because of the lack of user friendliness and confusion to work the product.
• User Rating: This product is a level 3. You would need to watch videos and spend a lot of time to understand how the program works (let's face it, do we really have that kind of time?)

4.) Word Cloud- This program seems to be one of the most interactive of the products. There is still customization available, but is user friendly with some play around. Your students would be able to figure out this product quickly. There is one warning I would say to this is when inputting words make sure to click paste/type text to make the process easier. Other than that is product is a great level 2 product for students and teachers who have more tech experience. This product allows you to make your Word Cloud in different shapes, animations, colors, and themes. This product would take a good amount of time for students to make their Word Clouds, but the end result will be worth it! Please click here to check it out.

• Glitchy Review: I give this product a 4 since there are still parts which would be difficult but not enough that a few videos couldn't fix.
• User Rating: This product would be a level 1 and the advanced options would be a level 2 since you would need to watch videos.

Hapara

Product Description: 
Hapara is an online system which allows you to assign, monitor, and grade student work. This system work with Google Drive to allow students to work on and submit files to you the teacher. Teachers can actively see a student's computer screen and what tabs they have open on their computer in real time. Teachers also have the ability to lock or focus individual students, groups of students, or the whole class onto a particular website or websites for a set amount of time. This program allows students to work in groups or individually to complete assignments. Now this is a PAID program which is bought through districts or schools themselves.

Glitchy Teacher Review:
 I have used this program for about 3 months in my classroom. I have been able to assign projects to my students, monitor their progress through the project, monitor their work to make sure they working on the assignment. I can have students focus on a particular website. I can create or borrow workspaces other teachers have created on Hapara. You are able to create a Workspace where you can create online projects, assessments, or whatever you can think of. The workspace allows you to do so much I would not be able to put it all down here (I would run out of room), please check out the videos and links below. Perhaps the best part of Workspace is it already makes a folder in your Google drive for your students to submit work to you to make grading easier (or any RTI or SST evidence)! If you are not sure about creating a Workspace you can also choose from the thousands of Workspaces already created by other teachers! This program offers so much I could go on and on. What I love best is the ability to take assignments, projects, etc and make them 100% digital. Since this works with a student's Google Drive they are able to work on this a home as well! The only negative to this program is each student will need a Google Drive to access the program and will need to download the extension to make sure the teacher ONLY parts work.

Glitchy Rating: I give this program a 5; I love this program. This program is constantly looking for feedback from teachers and students to improve and make the program better. While it takes time to get used to all that Hapara has available; once you do the benefits to you and your students is so great it is worth it!

User Rating: Level 3
You will need to watch videos to be able to utilize all the great things this product offers and it does take some time to get used to. There are many videos available for you to learn about how to use Hapara. I have attached a couple here for you.

Product Information:
Hapara website- https://hapara.com/
Here is a link to a video to explain what Hapara can do for you!
Everything you will need is on this website including videos of all the wonderful things this product does.

For those of you who have Hapara here are some links to videos to aid you in learning how to use Hapara or a quick review for you! Enjoy!

ThingLink

Product Description:
This website allows users to create interactive pictures for presentation. The website allows the user to upload pictures to it and then place interactive buttons on the picture for educational and business presentations.

Glitchy Review:
I would give this product a 4. I say this because it really works for OLDER students (think no one below 3rd grade). First ThingLink has a FREE sign up for teachers, you heard me FREE! While you do have limited access a Basic account allows you to sign up one class, access to limited icons for your creations, and an image editor. Even with these limitations there is still a lot you are able to do. I can create an interactive image to which I can share with my students via a projector, create a channel or follow channels, and attend webinars (one of the best parts). My students can create and share images they make as well.

This program does take some time to learn the ins and outs of this program; however, they do have handy videos at the bottom of your page to aid you and your students along the way. This is an easy program for a teacher who is experienced with technology and can take a new user a couple of videos and playing around to get. Most of my students were able to get the basics themselves and were working on their ThingLink before I finished explaining how to start one! The rest of my students were able to figure things out after I got them started and really enjoyed exploring the website.

As for student engagement, my students LOVED it. They are able to log in using their Google Drive and showcase their knowledge in a different way. They got so engaged in ThingLink (I as well) that we were late to lunch! For 6th graders to be late you know they were having a great time! My students were able to critical think with their partner on what they wanted to do with the ThingLink as well as how they were going to approach showing their knowledge. When used in the classroom this could be used as a different form of assessment, test prep, or final project; honestly the uses for it are endless.

ATTENTION to those teachers, schools, and districts who use AVID; this would be a great way to combine Google Templates (where students can make one-pagers) as the image and take their one pagers to a new level!

Now if you decide to pay there are a couple of different options available to you. Please remember these payment plans are per TEACHER. The different options allow for more classes per teacher as well as different abilities ThingLink has to offer. For example, you will have access to professional development for teachers, more preloaded and custom icons for teachers and students to use, and ability to make videos and 360 degree pictures editor; the list goes on and on.

Glitchy Rating: 4 (since it is best for older students)

User Rating: 2 there are parts of this you can explore and learn on your own and parts where you will need to reference the video below as we as the videos available on the website.

Reading Posts

Thank-you for reading my blog! I wanted to give you a heads up about how to read my posts. First, I will title each post with the product I will be talking about. Each post will include a description of the product and what it does. I will then go into my review of the product and how it will benefit the classroom. Second, I will give the product a rating between 1-5 as well as a user rating. The user rating will be the level of technology expertise you will need in order to effectively use the product. The user ratings will look as follows:

1. Level 1= New User this is the easiest level where you can go in and immediately use the product no real training need just play around with it.
2. Level 2= Experienced User this level you COULD go in and start using the product, however to really use all the great features will require watching a video or two.
3. Level 3= Expert User this product level requires videos to fully use the product to it's complete ability. This level can be difficult for New User Teachers.

Finally, I will attach videos I have created to aid you in using the product or videos I believe best show you how to use the product. If possible I will add student samples to the post from my classroom for you to view.

Thank-you! Happy Holidays!

The Glitchy Teacher

Welcome!

Welcome to The Glitchy Teacher! This blog is going to be for teachers. My goal is to aid teachers in discovering all the outstanding apps, websites, and technology available to them. As a teacher myself I know how hard it is to find time to do all you need to do for your classroom, let alone find time to research technology. With a huge push from CCSS to integrate technology in the classroom, teachers like myself, sometimes struggle to decipher what is good for the classroom and what is bad. This is where this blog comes in. I plan on being able to share with you any and all apps, websites, and technology I believe would and could work in the classroom. I will do the research for you! All you need to do is read about it, look at the rating, description, and watch the video to see if this is something that could work for you. I will include student work as well if I can.

Please feel free to leave comments with apps or websites you would like me to check out or what you think about the post. Thank-you!