Digital Resource Review: Padlet

GENERAL OVERVIEW

Padlet (formerly Wallwisher) is like an online bulletin board. There are countless ways it can be applied in the classroom, and the benefits are many. It’s free, user friendly, and versatile. The official description from their website is “Padlet is the easiest way to create and collaborate in the world. It works like a sheet of paper where you can put anything (images, videos, documents, text) anywhere, from any device, together with anyone. Padlet already has over 5 million walls used for everything from teaching, brainstorming, note-taking, website publishing, bookmarking, selling goods, and blogging.”

Cost

Padlet is free! However, the free version has potential to be a security issue for students, as whatever they post can be accessed by anyone who has a Padlet account. Padlet Backpack is designed for schools so teachers can set up unlimited free student accounts which have as little or as much freedom to share outside the school walls at teacher discretion. The cost is $5 per month or $45 for year. There is a free 30-day trial period. Once you sign-up, you get “delightful support” and even a hand-written love letter, according to their website.

Here's an example of a Padlet page used in a language arts classroom:

source: Padlet.com

REVIEW

Rationale 

I chose Padlet for its ease of use and versatility in the classroom. KathyShrock’s site offered a plethora of rubrics, which helped me build my own. Padlet is definitely geared towards inspiring creativity and collaboration in students. I like that it’s free, but the major flaw with the free version are the privacy issues for the students. If students open and use their own personal account in the classroom, any Padlet user would have access to the students’ information with the exception of their e-mail, which according to Padlet is never publicly displayed. There are ways to wiggle around the privacy issue, however. When I used Padlet for a group activity, I gave each group a link to a page I created in my own account, so the students would be protected. They copied the link into their browsers and the activity went just fine.

For the sake of the rubric and overall review of the product, however, I reviewed the “Backpack”, or school version of Padlet.  Padlet is extremely user friendly, and I used it with a class of 8^th graders who had never heard of it before. They used it intuitively with no difficulties. Cost wise, the “Backpack” or school version of Padlet costs $5 per month or $45 per year, so it’s quite affordable. According to my rubric, Padlet earned 14 out of 15 of my criteria for a creative, collaborate program.

                                                           3                                                      2                                                      1

Ease of use	Product is intuitive and needs little instruction	Students will need some instruction prior to use	Significant time will be invested in instructions
Cost	Free!	Low expense, easily fits into budget	Significant investment
Privacy	No student information needed or information is protected under firewall of school.	Some student information needed.	Outside users will have access to content
Connect, Collaborate, Create	Product will enrich classroom culture. Product serves diverse needs with its versatility.	Product has potential to enrich classroom culture. Product is moderately versatile.	Students must work alone. Creativity is constrained to specific applications.
Engagement and Motivation	Students will definitely like this program.	Students will probably like this program.	Students will not like this program.

Review

From a student perspective, Padlet provides an exciting avenue for creativity and collaboration. The students I worked with enjoyed how easy it was to use, and seemed to appreciate having the agency to work with multiple media sources easily to make their point. In my experience, Padlet is appropriate for grades four and higher. The biggest drawback as mentioned earlier, is the privacy issue. I only felt comfortable giving the students my link to use for their group’s page, as I didn’t want the students to use their personal information to register. That problem would be alleviated, however, with the Padlet “Backpack” option designed for schools.

When thinking about Padlet through the lens of a power framework, particularly, this program has much to offer. I conducted a lesson using Padlet with a class of 8^th graders who had never used it. Other than explaining my expectations for the class activity (characterization posters,) I didn’t spend any time telling them how to use the application other than “click on the screen to add text, insert a photo, song, or video from the Internet.” It was intuitive for these 21^st century learners who adapted to Padlet immediately. Additionally, Padlet provides multiple access points for all types of learners. Some students searched the web in Spanish. Others were motivated by the visual and artistic component. All seemed to be inspired by the fresh way of creating posters collaboratively.

Comparable resources

There are other resources similar to Padlet, but the ones I found were geared toward business professionals. Two examples are:

Realtimeboard Their definition is “Whiteboard. Finally in your browser. The simplest collaboration tool for project leaders, marketers, designers, developers, and creatives.” This application is marketed more toward business professionals to use in meetings. There is a free option, but it only allows three boards. For a classroom, one would need to purchase the premium option which is $10 per month.

Stormboard “Online brainstorming and collaboration. Brainstorm, organize, prioritize and act on the best ideas in the same room or around the world on a real time sticky note whiteboard.” Again, this application is marketed to business professionals. Seems almost identical to Realtimeboard with the exception on the ability to “vote” for popular ideas. Pricing is comparable to Realtimeboard.

Ideas for literacy instruction

I used Padlet as a tool to create character posters while studying The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Each group was assigned a character, and each student had their own Chromebook to use. By entering my code for their respective pages, they bypassed having to open an account (and divulgepersonal information) to Padlet. They added quotes, pictures, songs, and symbols that represented their character, and then presented it to the class on the Smart Board.

I also used Padlet for an exit ticket while preparing for a Socratic Seminar. I asked students to think of a question they would like to discuss about the novel in our upcoming seminar, and it was interesting for them to see all of their ideas appear simultaneously on the Smart Board in front of class.

Here are some other ideas, courtesy of Padlet’s sample page:

Story Analysis

http://jn.padlet.com/article/232-story-analysis

Biography

http://jn.padlet.com/article/219-bio

ELA standards

Because Padlet is so flexible, it could be used to support almost any standard. Based on 8^th grade Colorado ELA standards, here are some that resonated with me:

Integrate multimedia and visual displays into presentations to clarify information, strengthen claims and evidence, and add interest. (CCSS: SL.8.5)

Use Integration of Knowledge and Ideas to: i. Analyze the extent to which a filmed or live production of a story or drama stays faithful to or departs from the text or script, evaluating the choices made by the director or actors. (CCSS: RL.8.7) ii. Use graphic organizers and note-taking formats while reading to map relationships among implied or explicit ideas or viewpoints iii. Develop and share interpretations of literary works of personal interest

Use Integration of Knowledge and Ideas to: i. Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums (e.g., print or digital text, video, multimedia) to present a particular topic or idea. (CCSS: RI.8.7)

a. Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. (CCSS: W.8.1) i. Develop texts that offer a comparison, show cause and effect, or support a point ii. Write and justify a personal interpretation of literary or informational text that includes a thesis, supporting details from the literature, and a conclusion

Quality reasoning relies on supporting evidence in media: a. Take a position on an issue and support it using quality reasoning d. Use appropriate media to demonstrate reasoning and explain decisions in the creative process.

How to get started

Padlet is user friendly from the get-go. Simply go to Padlet.com and follow the prompts to sign up. Before doing that, however, you have the option to create a page without having an account if you want to explore the site and see how it all works.  For step by step instructions, click on the youtube link by Arush Mohan.