Padlet Walls

One of my schools has experimented with embedding a Padlet wall onto their blog, so I thought this is a good opportunity to post about this very versatile tool.

What is Padlet?

Padlet (padlet.com) is a free web-based application, you might have known it as Wallwisher previously. It is an online wall where you can place sticky notes. Depending on what privacy settings you choose you can have just one person place sticky notes and others may or may not be able to read them, you can have several people place their stickies and edit their own stickies, or you can have anyone place and edit stickies on the wall. Below you find one example I did with some y3 students:

Created with Padlet

What would you use Padlet for?

Any time you want to collect ideas, brainstorm. As this is an online, collaborative tool, any number of people can collaborate on this at the same time. The owner can at any time change the settings to stop others from adding or editing any more and therefore keep the wall as evidence, e.g. as part of the inquiry process, towards assessment etc.

How to create and change a wall?

Sign up for a free account on padlet.com. Click on Build a Wall. On the right side bar you are given the opportunity to modify your wall. You might like to play with appearance etc. but the most important features to look at are Privacy - who do you want your wall be visible to? - and Address: You are able to pick your own unique padlet address (provided nobody else has used it before) which can make your life a lot easier if you want your students to type the address into the browser address bar.

Why and how would you embed it into a blog?

Your class / teacher blog, or your class / teacher site can be a great platform for students to access their learning activities all in one place.

To embed a Padlet wall into your blog, click on the Share Button at the right of your wall:

This will open a side bar with the options of Sharing, Exporting and Embedding your wall:

To embed the wall, copy the gibberish inside the box (it's called an Embed Code). Back on your blog, create a new post. On the top left of your 'paper' you find two boxes: Compose (the default view) and HTML. Click on HTML and paste the gibberish you copied earlier into the space. When you click on Compose again, your wall will appear on the paper!

Below you will find my little test Padlet Wall. Please feel free to leave a professional sticky note on this wall!

Created with Padlet