Padlet

Padlet is an iPad App and a website that allows students to access a virtual post-it notes board. They can share ideas with each other through comments on post-its, through pictures, and even videos. It is a great app for brainstorming and exploring concepts.

App Overview: 5/5 Apples

Padlet allows you to create post-it boards for any purpose. Once you have picked your topic, the options are wide ranging in regards to how and what the students can post. Students could post thoughts on a concept, or post video of an experiment to share their results with others in the class. Afterwards, it is easy to share these boards of knowledge.  You can send the link out for their parents to see at home, or even make pdf copies to be put in the students' google drives or seesaw accounts.

Main Subjects: Since Padlet is more of a brainstorming and sharing app/program, it can be used well with any subject.  You could use it easily in science to document experiments and discoveries, and in social studies to research historical background on a topic. In math it could even be used daily as a warm up for number talks (See our lesson here). Padlet is a great way to allow everyone in the class to have a voice, and will probably become one of your staple apps in the classroom.

Ease of Use for Teacher: 4/5 Apples: Right off the bat Padlet makes things simple for teachers in terms of accounts, especially if your district already has google drive accounts for all of its staff.  Once you are logged in, you can start a new padlet with the "new padlet" button, and then you will see that they have kept it simple with very few menu buttons that you have to press. The far right settings button will allow you to title your padlet, change its background, and set the layout (we recommend grid). The button next to it with two people is for sharing. It will give you a website link to give your students so they can access the padlet. It also allows you to control what they can do once they are there such as write or read only. The plus sign, a common app menu item, allows you to immediately add a new post. That post will show up on the board and you can start typing. If you want to add a photo, simply click the camera picture in the post and then either search for one online or click choose a file to pick from your photo library or to take a new photo or video. When you are all done you can even share your padlet as a pdf by clicking the share button option (the box with an arrow sending out).

Ease of Use for Students: 4/5 Apples: The Padlet app is just as easy for the students as it is for the teacher. They can log in with their school google accounts or even log in as a guest and just enter the padlet's website link (URL). The small number of buttons really helps students remember what they need to press once the directions are started. Also, in the post box there are small pictures of a camera and things so even if your student struggles with reading they can still find the option they need. Students will learn how to post what they have learned or discovered, and will also enjoy reading the new posts from their peers. One tricky part though can be the posting. If the padlet is set to free form, students may accidently post on top of each other and be distracted by who is posting where. Due to this, we recommend that you set your padlets to grid form, which will automatically put students' posts into columns so that there is no overlap.

Cost: 5/5 Apples: 

Linking Lessons: