How to Use Padlet in 10 Ways For Teaching

Padlet has become a classroom favourite for teachers and students. Its rise came with the shift to online learning and the increasing need for teachers to engage and keep students accountable in their learning.

What is Padlet?

Padlet is a digital canvas that allows teachers and students to share their ideas and collaborate with others. It is student-friendly and, unlike other collaborative edtech platforms, it doesn’t permit students to edit or delete another student’s post. Padlet also filters profanity (yay!).

Is Padlet free?

Padlet has a free version that allows you to have access to 3 padlets. You can get an additional padlet if you register with this referral link.

Padlet Layouts

There are currently 8 different layouts to choose from. Choose the most appropriate to suit your activity.

10 Teaching Ideas using Padlet

1. Brainstorm

Layout: Wall

Begin a class brainstorm by posting a question for your students. An example could be “Is a human being like an ecosystem?”. You can also attach a photo or resource for students to use to stimulate their thinking. Students can then respond to the prompt by creating a post.

2. Project Sharing

Layout: Wall

Enable students to showcase their projects or class work with the class! This is a great way to create an inclusive learning environment. You can take this to another level by having students give each other peer feedback!

3. Create a Quiz

Layout: Wall

Students will use quiz apps such as Quizizz and create their own set of questions (e.g. 10 multiple choice questions). This is a great topic revision activity. Students will then post a link of their quizzes on Padlet. Then, students can complete quizzes created by their peers to help them revise the topic.

4. Concept Map

Layout: Canvas

This is a great activity to do at the beginning of a topic to address students’ prior knowledge. Students can post their ideas about a concept and then use the arrows feature to connect their post to another idea. The teacher can scaffold this activity more, depending on the needs of the students. For example, in a “Space” topic the teacher might also include sub-topic headings such as the “Big Bang Theory” and “Features of the Universe” to further prompt students.

5. Twitter Stream

Layout: Stream

As an exit ticket activity, ask students to post a “tweet” about one thing that they’ve learnt in the lesson. The posts will appear like a social media stream. This can help to inform your planning for the next lesson.

6. Bulletin To Showcase Student Work

Layout: Grid

Create a class bulletin by sharing outstanding student work onto a class portfolio! Simply post a photo of outstanding book work, presentations or projects to create a class bulletin. This can help model standards for other students and create a chronological log of your class activities.

7. Sequence of Questions (Eg SWOT Analysis)

Layout: Shelf

If you have multiple questions for students to answer, use the Shelf layout to direct students through the questions. Examples include: a SWOT analysis, KWL chart, book analysis questions etc. Students can share their ideas straight under the prompt.

8. Anonymous Q/A

Layout: Backchannel

Create an Q/A forum where students can anonymously ask questions about class work during the lesson. This can be especially useful during distance learning, where teachers can address misconceptions that students may have. Teachers and students can then have a log of frequently asked questions.

9. Locations on a Map

Layout: Map

Padlet has an integrated map that allows teachers and students to find locations seamlessly. Students can also add annotations to the map such as images, links and text. The maps feature can be used in all KLA’s including Science and Geography for mapping the locations of earthquakes and volcanoes to History and Social Studies to map the routes of travelers and trade.

10. Timeline

Layout: Timeline

Students can summarise information on an interactive timeline. Activity ideas include a chronological book summary in English, a Geological Time Scale in Science or summarising the events of a historical period of time such as World War 2.

For more ideas, check out Padlet’s Gallery.

Read more education posts here.

Thank you for reading!! Keep updated with more teaching ideas by subscribing below.