Tagul
www.tagul.com
Creativity Tool
Please describe this tool in your own words in about 250 words:
Tagul is a web 2.0 creativity tool that is similar to Wordle but expands on the concept of Wordle. Tagul allows the user to design word clouds known as tag clouds. Tagul clouds can be embedded on a web page or serve as navigation units. Each tag in Tagul cloud is linked with an URL and is “clickable” that enables visitors to use it for navigation. Tagul uses flash instead of Java that is light weight (~50kb per tagul cloud vs ~150kb for a wordle) and stores the clouds on a content delivery network to deliver clouds to wide audience instanlty. Tagul has some features that Wordle doesn’t, like custom shapes selection and multiply fonts usage in one cloud. Tagul is currently in beta and is free to use at this time
What do you need to know before using this tool?:
Users should have an idea of what text or URL they want to use.
What do you need to have before using this tool? (Resources):
There are no special resources required to use this tool.
How do you use this tool?:
- Go to www.tagul.com
- Click on the "Sign Up" link and register
- Tagul will send your password to your email address. Once you login you can change your password by clicking on the "profile" tab on the top right of the screen.
- You can create up to 20 word clouds by clicking on the "Create" button under the My Clouds section on the list on the right hand side of the screen.
- You can paste the tags or labels in the Textbox area of the Home tab for creating your tagul. The more you repeat a word, the bolder it will
appear.
- Click on the "Fetch Tags" tab
- Choose your shape for your Cloud.
- Select the font(s) for your tags. You can select as many as you would like.
- Click on "Build a Cloud" (your cloud will be generated).
- Click on the preview tab and your cloud will appear.
- Click on the "Style options" tab. You can select colors for your tab and also background and rollover colors.
- Click on preview and you will see another version with your color choices. If you are not happy with them click on the "Refresh" link.
- Click on one of the words in your Tagul. It will open to a google search of that word.
- Click on the "Finalize" tab. You can select the size of your cloud and also save and copy the embed code for your tagul cloud.
Please create an example with this tool and either embed in your blog or submit the URL:
This is a Tagul of common Distance Education definitions for CUIN 7356/CUIN 7376:
Please describe a scenario of how you might use this tool in a teaching environment (about 500 words):
Tagul can be used in the classroom several ways, including:
- Stimulating classroom discussion. The educator can create a tagul of key discussion words on a topic or theme and then prompt students to elaborate on them in class via discussion. After this the teacher can then assign a student a word and have the research deeper into the meaning and prepare a 2-3 minute presentation/highlight on their word. This will help each student build their vocabulary and comprehension as well as expand their base of knowledge once all presentations are made.
- Evaluating websites or blogs. Educators can have students evaluate websites or blogs on a subject area in tagul. Students can report on the major themes in the website based on the tagul cloud (the bolder the word the more it is used) and how this differs from their initial opinion of the website or company prior to viewing the tagul cloud.
What are the advantages of using this tool in a teaching environment?:
Tagul offers the learner the opportunity to explore words that he/she may not necessarily know a lot of information on.
What are the disadvantages of using this tool in a teaching environment?:
Because Tagul is in Beta version - at anytime it can go away or have a cost associated with it. Also, Tagul currently limits the user to 20 Tagul clouds per account.
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