Padlet

What is Padlet? 

Padlet is a digital tool that can help teachers and students in class and beyond by offering a single place for a notice board. That’s at its most basic.

This digital notice board is able to feature images, links, videos, and documents, all collated on a “wall” that can be made public or private. This means that not only can teachers post on the wall but so too can students.

Padlet is a place where you can create single or multiple walls that are able to house all the posts you want to share. From videos and images to documents and audio, it is literally a blank slate. It’s collaborative, too, allowing you to involve students, other teachers, and even parents and guardians.

Who you share that with is up to you as a moderator. It can be public, open to all, or you can place a password on the wall. You can only allow invited members to use the wall, which is the ideal setup for education. Share the link and anyone invited can enter easily. 

Once up and running, it’s possible to post an update with your identity, or anonymously. Loyalist College subscribes to an institutional license for Padlet that will allow unlimited Padlet’s to be created. Please request access through CATL. 

Creating a Padlet

Get started by clicking the pink ‘MAKE A PADLET’ button

There are six options of blank templates that you can select to start and customize:

  • Wall: Pack content in a brick-line layout;
  • Canvas: Scatter, group, and connect content in any way;
  • Stream: Streamline content in an easy to read, top-to-bottom feed;
  • Grid: Arrange content in rows of boxes;
  • Shelf: Stack content in a series of columns;
  • Backchannel: Communicate in a chat-like environment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The new Padlet will appear with the Modify panel on the right-hand side open.  The following steps are all in this panel, you will just need to scroll down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add your own Title

Add a description (optional – though you could use this to advise students how to add a post).

 

 

 

 

You can customize the URL with a short name

 

 

Appearance

Under Appearance choose a background wallpaper from the selection or add your own.

 

You can select your preferred Colour Scheme and Font

 

 

Posting

 

Under Posting, you can leave as default or change according to your needs.

Attribution – students name will only be visible if they also have a padlet account

New post position – setting as Last means that the first post will stay at the top.

Reactions – allows viewers to add a reaction, options are Like, Vote, Star or Grade

 

Content Filtering

 

Choose the Content filtering options that best suit your need.

 

People and Privacy

Click Next (at the top right-hand corner). You will be sent to the People and Privacy panel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Normally set the Privacy as Secret. Never set as Public.

In some use cases, you might want to set a password. For example: if you only want students to see the Padlet after a certain time when you’ve shared the password.

 

 

 

Choose whether you wish those with a link to have read-only access, or to Write. This is recommended if you want students to be able to comment or share information. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click Next (top right-hand corner) and your Padlet is ready to start posting.

 

 

You can re-enter the Modify panel to make changes at any time by clicking on the cog icon in the top right-hand corner of the Padlet screen.

Sharing a Padlet

Once you have created a Padlet you can share it with your students on Blackboard or send them a link. Students do not need to log into Padlet to contribute to your Padlet once you have shared it with them.

Privacy Setting for Sharing

If your Privacy setting is set to Private, students will not be able to view or contribute to the Padlet even if they follow the link or it is embedded in the LMS.

In Padlet open the Share panel.

 

To open the share panel click on the share icon on the top right-hand corner of the Padlet screen.

 

 

Click on Change Privacy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Change privacy to Secret.  Select Visitor permissions to suit your activity.

The Password setting may be a suitable choice in some scenarios.  Save your setting.  You are ready to share.

Sharing your Padlet on the LMS 

The two simplest ways to share your Padlet on the LMS are:

  • Copy the Padlet URL link and paste to Blackboard, using a “Weblink”.
  • Copy the HTML embed code and paste it into the HTML box, in a content Item.

Padlet URL Method

In Padlet open the Share panel.

 

 

To open the share panel click on the share icon on the top right-hand corner of the Padlet screen.

 

 

In the share panel click on the Copy link to clipboard option.

 

 

 

 

In a Blackboard content area click Build Content – Web link

Enter a title, paste the URL from the clipboard, enter a description then click Submit.

Students can then access the Padlet when they click on the link

Padlet Embed Code Method

In Padlet open the Share panel.

 

To open the share panel click on the Share icon on the top right-hand corner of the Padlet screen.

 

 

 

 

In the Share panel click on Embed in your blog or website.

 

 

 

Under the Full embed code click Copy.

In a Blackboard content area create a new Item.  In the Item edit page click on the Embed button.

In the Source Code view window paste the embed code. Click Save.

The Padlet will display in the text area.

Click Submit to view your Padlet embedded in your Blackboard course.  Students can contribute to the Padlet directly from Blackboard. Any file or link in the Padlet will open in a new window.

Upload Content to a Padlet Board

How to upload content to Padlet boards.