Padlet

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Padlet Featured

Padlet (formerly WallWisher) is a great way to communicate with your students in an online manner.

Imagine taking a large sticky pad of paper and distributing pages of it to students.  Each student grabs a marker and writes on their sticky poster.  They then take their sticky poster and put it up on the classroom wall, along with everyone else’s sticky poster.  Ultimately the wall is covered in a mosaic of sticky posters, each with a student’s thoughts and comments surrounding a subject.  This is what Padlet does — just online instead.

Essentials

  • A recent computer – A computer purchased within the past 5 years should be suitable.
  • A high speed Internet connection – While the site will likely work on dial-up, the experience on dial-up will likely be a frustrating one.
  • An idea of what you’d like to say, or have your students say – A guiding topic or question works wonderfully.

Example of a Padlet Wall

[wallwisher key=’kx71qqj8sd’ width=’100%’ height=’480′]

How to do it

Padlet’s interface is quite simple.

  1. Start by accessing https://www.padlet.com.
  2. Once loaded, click on Build a Wall to build your wall.
  3. Double click anywhere on the screen to add a note.  You can also also use the sidebar on the right to access some extra options.

Adding a Padlet Wall into a website or Blackboard Learn course

  1. From your Padlet Wall, click on the Padlet Send To icon.
  2. Left click once on the first batch of embed code, then right click it to bring up a menu.  Left click on Copy.
  3. For Blackboard:
    1. Load your Blackboard Learn course and create a new item.  Name the item appropriately.
    2. On the text box toolbars, click on the HTML button.  A new window will appear.
    3. In the new window, right click to bring up a menu.  Left click on Paste.
    4. Click Update.
    5. Click Submit.
  4. For a website, simply paste the code according to your web site’s specifications.

Adding a Padlet Wall into a WordPress site

  1. Install the Wallwisher Shortcode plugin into your WordPress site and activate it.
  2. From your Padlet Wall, click on the Padlet Send To icon.
  3. Locate the second set of code – This is a WordPress shortcode for Padlet.  Copy it.
  4. Create a new post or page on your WordPress site.
  5. Paste the shortcode into the main text box of the new post/page.  This can be done in either Visual or Text mode.
  6. Update/Publish your post.

Your Padlet Wall is now posted inside of your website, WordPress, or Blackboard Learn course!

If you’d like more information on how to use Padlet, go to the Padlet Junction: Where Padlers meet for help, ideas, and feedback.