Collaborating with Padlet

Since we're practicing social distancing, it can be difficult to have students do things like small group work, think-pair-share, and other micro-interactions. This can be made even more difficult if we have some students joining us online and also mask-to-mask. 

One collaborative space you may want to look into is Padlet. This is a freemium tool or tool that has some basic features available for free with paid upgrades. You get 3 free Padlets with the basic plan. 

When you create a Padlet, you have a number of options for your collaborative space. (Take a few moments and check them out! It's a great tool with a ton of uses!)  I'm going to highlight two options that can be quite versatile for those of us teaching different populations. 

• The Canvas option allows students to place notes all over the board and connect them to other thoughts posted by their peers. You can use it as a class, you can create a Canvas for each group, or you can create threads and have the groups connect to them. 

• The Backchannel option allows students to chat with one another and include videos, images, files, screencasts, and more. You can use it as a class or you can create a Backchannel for each group (up to three with the free version).

For those using Padlet, what are you doing with it and how are you doing it?

For those curious about Padlet, would you like to know more about this tool?