What is it?
Padlet is best thought of as a digital equivalent of an online bulletin board. It is a versatile tool for education. Not only can students make posts and comments, but they can also attach documents, images, and recordings (audio or video).
In August 2023, Padlet added the ability to include a multiple choice poll with up to four options.
What are the benefits?
Dentistry and Bioscience students reported anonymity, peer-learning, and engagement as benefits to using Padlet (Mehta et al, 2021).
Padlet is intuitive to learn and use, and works on both desktop and mobile platforms. If it is being used in class, students need access to any kind of device.
Padlet can be used in individual or collaborative modes. An instructor might have each student create their own Padlet for an assignment, or could assign Padlets to students working in groups.
What are the challenges?
Students may be hesitant to use Padlet as an anonymous forum or Q&A board until they perceive that others are actually using the tool (Sætra, 2021).
While posts can include images and files, comments can only contain text or links. Mehta et al (2021) speculate that the difficulty of including mathematical expressions in Padlet may contribute to a perception of the tool being harder to use.
In some ways, Padlet mimics the format of social media (a variety of content can be posted; comments can be added; posts can be liked), but unlike social media applications, notifications of new posts requires active opt-in. Opting in to notifications also requires an account, which makes staying anonymous more difficult.
Who’s using this?
Pending… if you’ve used this tool and you’re willing to share thoughts about your and your students’ experience, send me an email!
Resources
Padlet, by the T&L Commons. The Teaching and Learning Commons has put together a resource site with examples and templates for instructors to use.
References
Mehta, K. J., Miletich, I., & Detyna, M. (2021). Content-specific differences in padlet perception for collaborative learning amongst undergraduate students. Research in Learning Technology, 29, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.25304/rlt.v29.2551 KPU Library Link.
Sætra, H. S. (2021). Using padlet to enable online collaborative mediation and scaffolding in a statistics course. Education Sciences, 11(5), 219. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11050219 KPU Library Link.
Waltemeyer, S., Hembree, J. R., & Hammond, H. G. (2021). Padlet: The Multipurpose Web 2.0 Tool. Journal of Instructional Research, 10, 93-99. https://doi.org/10.9743/JIR.2021.10 Direct link to issue.
