Engaging students in collaborative work with a 'White Wall' —— Padlet

Collaboration is not only important in the classroom but throughout the whole society. Students can benefit from being better participants in collaborative contexts, and, thus, better citizens and community members (Kessler, 2013). Teachers nowadays have various methods of developing students' teamwork spirit and skills, from small group work in the classroom to interesting collaborative work online. Today I want to introduce a great Web2.0 tool  for students and it is possibly the easiest way to create and collaborate in the world —— Padlet.

Introduction

Ten years ago, Padlet was still one Graduate Enterprise Programme in Singapore called 'White Wall', which means creating your ideas wildly. Till now, it has vecome one bulletin board application that allows users to collaboratively share ideas, images, videos and links to a wall dedicated to a common topic. Users can access Padlet from almost any device, on any browser, and easily add their content to any part of the page, commonly known as the “Padlet wall”.

How to Use Padlet

It cannot be easily explained because it does not have limits. If you have imagination to create some topics or want to express your thoughts on a common topic, you just need follow the instructions and make what you like creatively through text, link, images, videos, bookmarks and more. There are a lot of tools in it and you can try them one by one. Here I will give you one Youtube video of Padlet learning tutorial if you still have problems.

screenshot of some functions in the white board

screenshot of one example of the topic in Padlet Gallery

   video tutorial will show you how to use Padlet

Some Collaborative Learning Patterns via Padlet

1. Brainstorming

Group members can express their ideas bravely in Padlet Wall. Teachers could help them layout ideas and do not judge and evaluate them after the brainstorming. Even some shy students who do not like speaking in the public can also have the opportunity to say something. It is great for everyone to open minds and fully stimulate the imagination. 

2. Debating

Teachers can give the groups one theme to debate. Students with the same opinion can put ideas in one board and those with contrary opinion express thinking in the other board. Students are also encouraged to use Internet to search information and then insert website links, videos and pictures on related boards. Padlet Wall gives students quicker and various ways to think critically.

3. Work Sharing

Students could upload different kinds of their group works in Padlet Wall and share them with classmates easily and directly. For example, if the group work is to introduce one country, students can upload videos, ppt, websites and even pictures on the board. Various group works can be shown to motivate students and help them progress together. 

picture source: Google images

Last but not the least, I will give you two links of the Padlet users and you can see what they contribute and explore, which is really imaginative and helpful.

SwitchYourBank.org showcased its campaign for local banking: http://toobighasfailed.org/

The Baltimore Zoo housed tributes to a polar bear that recently passed away: http://padlet.com/wall/nqgbzhfs77