Padlet: Bringing Online Bulletin Board to Your Classroom

Imagine having a classroom wall that can be access anytime and anywhere. If you like the idea of it, try padlet. Padlet is simply describe as an online wall where people can write anything and then let others see it on this "virtual wall". This simple idea can be very useful for teachers to share digital contents and have students to read or response to it.

 

How do we start? 

You can start by signing up using your email address or linking your facebook or google account. When you successfully logged in you can start creating your own padlet. To know how to create your first padlet post take a look at this instructional video below.

 

What does it do? 

Creates virtual wall: This is what padlet looks like when you have managed to post something. You can add pictures, videos and text. Surely you can also choose any background you like.

Now, let's get into details.

Click this button to start making a padlet.

Next, you can start customizing your padlet's title, description, background, template and icon.

 

Once the padlet is set, you can add a new post and attach digital content as you wish.

 

 
Collaborates: Padlet allows you to share your project to other people simply by sharing the link or use the embedded link and you can also share instantly to your social media account. Once you share your padlet, people can easily add comments or more contents. Remember that you can easily set the security and control of your padlet.

Exports to different files: In padlet, you can have your virtual wall save as different kind of files, so you are able to use it for different purposes such as having it to be printed out.

 

 

What are the benefits for your teaching?

• Class Participation: In student-centered classroom, class participation holds an important role however according to Vandrick (2000:3) many ESL and non_ESL students have the tendency of unwillingness to participate in class because they feel powerless thus class participation is not something they feel to be likely entitled to. Therefore it is impossible for teachers to remove all barriers that prevent students from participating in class, but it is certainly possible for teacher to create a class environment that encourages and support participant from all. Since Padlet is a flexible tool which can be access anytime and anywhere, it provides a non-threatening room for clasroom collaboration.Students can  participate in classroom topic discussion or asking questions  simply by posting their opinions in Padlet. Students can also be anonymous thus shy learners can benefit from this.

• Bainstorming tool: Teachers can use padlet for classroom wall where every one can put and share ideas about certain topic. Students can add different types of contents on Padlet thus it provides a rich variety of media for classroom discussion. Since Padlet can also be easily shared, it is a great tool for a group work activity where students are encouraged to discuss and exchange ideas cooperatively.

What are the limitations? 

• Anonymous option: While this option can facilitate students who are not confident, it is important to bear in mind that this kind of opportunity in the internet can create a space for irrelevant ideas shared by the students. 

• Privacy: It is worth double checking your Padlet wall privacy setting before sharing especially when it contains students' information. Extra step might needed to ensure total privacy for students.      

Vandrick, S. (2000, March). Language, culture, class, gender, and class participation. Paper presented at the Annual Meet- ing of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Lan- guages, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.