Padlet is a great tool that allows for a number of synchronous and asynchronous online teaching opportunities, here are 4 fantastic uses for Padlet as part of online teaching and learning:

1. Backchannel and Q/A space
2. Sharing resources
3. Group work
4. Introductory space / Social space 

Backchannel and Q&A space

One use for a Padlet is to use it as a backchannel for a module. Share the Padlet with students and let them know it’s an area for them to post ideas and questions. This can be a good alternative to using Canvas Discussions as students can post questions anonymously on Padlet which may encourage them to post more often. 

You aren’t limited to just using text to reply to student questions on Padlet,. You could post a video or voice recording of yourself answering the question which will allow students to feel more connected and establish more of a personal connection with you. Padlet’s ability to showcase a range of posts at once on a wall also then enables students to easily see previously answered questions. 

Sharing resources

You can post a wide range of multimedia to Padlet, this can make it a great area to post resources and materials from videos to images to documents to audio files. If you’ve got a resource you want to share with your students chances are you can post it to a Padlet wall. The added benefit is that students can also post any useful resources they come across to share them with the whole class. 

Here is an example of a Padlet used as an area to collate resources.

Group work

Do you have students working on group projects together? Then why not get them set up with their own Padlet wall (students can have their own Padlet back accounts created by TEL on request from tutors) as an area to work collaboratively. They can post messages, share resources and collaborative documents. This can then also serve as a space for them to exhibit their finished group project to tutors or other students.

Padlet can also work for more short term group work, for example if you are holding a group teaching session on Zoom and you’ve broken students up into breakout rooms then you could ask for each group to post their group’s thoughts or notes onto Padlet, this way you capture all your students thoughts and allow them to be easily shared with other groups.

You can learn more about how others at Sussex use Padlet for group work in DIY Digital: Doing Punk Online (Lucy Robinson and Chris Warne, History) and Learning from each other’s reading with group Padlet walls (Evan Hazenberg, English).

Introductory space / Social space 

Padlet can also be used as a social space for your modules allowing students to connect with each other. For example at the start of a module a Padlet could be created for students and staff to introduce themselves through video, text, audio or other media.  You could ask every student to create a short video recording introducing themselves, other students then have the option to reply to each other and form a social connection.

For a great example of the use of Padlet to provide a social space for students see Sussex academic Dr Rebecca Webb’s ALT blog post Padlet – digital walls for sharing, learning and teaching.

Things to consider: Accessibility

Not all of the functions in Padlet are fully accessible, though this is something they are working on (see Accessibility and Padlet). When using Padlet you should consider whether you need to provide alternatives or modify the activity to allow everyone to take part. If you know that students are using screen-reading software to access internet content, or relying on keyboard input to navigate computer resources (i.e. do not use a mouse), you should consider alternate ways to include these students in the planned activity. Care should also be taken that wallpaper and colour schemes used in Padlet do not disadvantage students who are partially-sighted or have a colour vision deficiency. 

You can read more about using Padlet at Sussex on the TEL website and in these previous posts about Padlet:

• Padlet maps and timelines
• Padlet Backpack for staff and students
• Padlet for collaborative learning.

The Technology Enhanced Learning team (TEL) are always happy to support staff getting started with Padlet or thinking about how it might be useful for their students’ learning. Contact us at tel@sussex.ac.uk.