One educational technology that I’ve used time and time again is Padlet. The concept is very simple: it’s an online noticeboard. Here’s an example of one I used where I asked students to post about good and bad learning experiences (you can click to enlarge the picture):
So what can you use it for? I often ask students to discuss questions in groups, and then to post a summary of their answers onto a Padlet:
Or you can use it for everyone to contribute an answer individually. I’ve also used it before and after class, as a space where students can ask questions, or raise issues, or share something that they’re confused by, or to provide some material for people to discuss in class (so I might, perhaps, ask for comments on a particular research article which can then be used as a starting point for a class conversation). I often like to get students to compose a short paragraph during a class to practise putting their thoughts into writing – these can also be easily shared using Padlet. Or, I have asked students to paraphrase or summarise a particular piece of information or research, such as here:
Why do I like it? It’s very easy to use – you just give students a link and they can use a phone, laptop or tablet to access the Padlet you’ve set up, and start instantly posting with no need to create an account. Posts can be made anonymously, which means that students are more likely to feel confident enough to contribute, or to take a risk with an answer that they’re not sure about. Being able to see an array of responses can be a really useful way of exploring different perspectives, or seeing common misconceptions. If you’ve asked students to discuss in small groups, it provides a good way in to a whole class discussion, without the often repetitive alternative of each group verbally reporting back. And you are also able to attach images, audio, video, presentations and spreadsheets, comment on and react to other posts, meaning that there can be a discussion generated within the answers, or you can post some answer options which students can vote on. If you’re using it for several different questions within one session, the shelf format will help keep things organised (I’ve also attached images of work students did on paper to this one):
The downside? Well, when I first started using it, Padlet was completely free. However, they’ve now introduced a subscription model, so you can only have three different Padlets for free (you can keep creating new ones, you just need to delete some of the older ones so the total amount is never more than three) – which means that it’s harder to keep one Padlet left open for ongoing module questions, or to keep a record of what was posted during a session (although you can export it to PDF or as an image if you want the posts to be accessible without keeping that Padlet – that’s what I’ve done for these blog pictures). At the moment, City doesn’t have an institutional account (although maybe it will be possible in future if lots of us are using it for teaching), so we’re stuck with the free version unless you want to pay for an individual account. I’ve looked into free alternatives, but haven’t yet found a viable replacement. Let me know if you use something similar, or how you’ve Padlet in your teaching.
