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EmailHere is a story about the digital wanderings of one afternoon. I cannot even remember where it all started but at some point I ended up reading a great article about using Prezi in an academic setting. The article contained an awesome presentation, also on Prezi, called ‘9 Useful Educational Tools to Engage, Communicate, and Keep Up to Date in the Academic Environment‘. You might imagine this leading me to nine different websites but I actually discovered far more than that from flipping through the presentation and highly recommend that you take a chance to look it over. After who knows how many hours, I was led back to Twitter for the first time in years and introduced to a ton of new websites but, more importantly, I discovered Padlet, which is the main topic of today’s post.
Padlet, formerly Wallwisher, is so simple. Accounts are free and easy to create. It took me under a minute to register and get started. The premise is that you can create walls, similar to Facebook walls but more free-form, where you and others can post images, videos, text, and files.
If you choose for the wall to be private, only you and those that you add to the wall can view and post information, which is perfect for teaching. There are plenty of examples of Padlet walls in the gallery but I like this as an example of using Padlet to practice English vocabulary. What do you think of Mr. Sha’s method of providing feedback? While you could easily do a similar assignment on paper, using a class blog, or on another website, I think that Padlet brings another interesting dimension to this vocabulary assignment because students can view one another’s responses in real time. Padlet would make an especially good place for students to submit questions prior to review or study sessions and it could definitely be used for discussions, projects, and other activities too.
Take a look at the site and let me know what you think about Padlet. As I become more familiar with some of the other sites, I will be sure to write about them as well.
Thanks for sharing the resource. I’ll be using Padlet at a conference presentation. Will get audience to post their thoughts during my presentation.
Thank you, Sherrie! It is so interesting to hear how other people are using Padlet and I think that what you’ve decided to do with it is really exciting. Instructors might even consider doing this for some of their lecture classes as a way of involving students more. Good luck at your conference!
Here are some examples of how we used Padlet in our program.
Collection of online exercises: http://padlet.com/wall/L3grammarreview
Share class posters : http://padlet.com/wall/sr7g4ikjss
Second Conditionals: http://padlet.com/wall/ifIwonamillion
Class Vocabulary Notebooks: http://padlet.com/wall/L5RVa_Chapter7
I also like how you get to choose the URL.
Thank you so much for sharing those examples, Jason! It’s great that you’ve found a way to use Padlet at your school. I especially like the Second Conditionals wall. I’m sure your students are having a blast with Padlet.