Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Padlet: New features make this a winner for the classroom

Several years ago I was introduced to a fun little tool called "Wallwisher".  I gave up on it because it was a little glitchy and was lacking some functionality that I was looking for.  Just this week I took another look and boy am I pleasantly surprised.

Wallwisher is now Padlet and comes with a whole host of features that make it perfect for teachers. So what is Padlet? Basically, it's a digital "wall" or "corkboard" where anyone can stick digital artifacts. This makes it perfect for many different instructional purposes.

So why do I love Padlet?

Cost: Padlet is free... can't beat that. For many activities students don't even need to create an account.

Collaboration:  Many can collaborate in creating a Padlet, and best of all they can work on it at the same time and changes appear immediately. Perfect for whole class or group activities.

Privacy: You can set the privacy levels from only those you specifically name via email, password protected  hidden link, or totally public.  I also really like the new "moderate posts" option. Creating hidden link boards where students can easily access, but don't need to log-in is great for brainstorming, but can be a little worrisome. This new feature now makes Padlet the perfect place for quick whole class brainstorming activities.

East of Use:  Just double click anywhere in the space and add your text, images, or video. You can even drag and drop pictures right from any other application onto wall.

Possibilities:  The possibilities for Padlet use in the classroom are only limited by teacher imagination, which we all know is unlimited. So here are just a few simple ideas to get all you out there on the web thinking about uses for this tool, please share any more you come up with in the comments section.

  • Create a timeline with videos and images (see example below),
  • KWL activity. Create one wall for what students know, one for what the want to know, and one at the end of the unit for what they learned,
  • Students to comment on videos that they are watching in class,
  • Assess student understanding at the end of a chapter/unit,
  • Use as a way for students to brainstorm in a group on topics,
  • A great place to visually collect group research,
  • Create posters on people/places/topics.



1 comment:

  1. I am TOTALLY going to use this resource as an image bank for my painters next year. No more lost files!!! Thanks, Rita!

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