CLMOOC2014: Make Cycle 1
For the Making Learning Connected Make Cycle 1, the assignment is to remix the How-To Guide format. Any topic is viable, any genre, medium, length, audience, etc. I went into my Pearltrees account, opened up my Presenting pearl/folder, looked in Boards & Walls, and chose Padlet to demo. Here's a linked image of the result.
It only took about 30-45 minutes to create that wall. It would've taken less time if I hadn't been obsessive about resizing boxes and dragging them to different places on the wall. With that said, one of the downsides of this product is that there isn't a grid or any alignment tools, so you have to eyeball your alignment and spacing. For someone who is borderline OCD, I found this incredibly frustrating. I fought a bit with the single click versus double click to edit or resize an object, frequently bringing up the slide preview instead of the edit preview.
Speaking of the slide show preview: this is a neat feature, which turns each object into a slide prominently featured at the top of the screen, dimming the wall into the background. Each slide has social media share buttons, which will link back to that specific slide. As I noted in the How-To on my Padlet Wall, the slide show didn't always seem to progress sequentially, but that may have been some sort of operator error on my part. The image below is in slide mode.
Padlet is not just an online bulletin board though; it's also a tool for collaboration. You can control your privacy settings, which you can limit to private (only you and people you add by email can access the wall), password protected, hidden link (link hidden from Google and public areas of Padlet), or totally public. You can control how viewers interact with the wall as well, which is where collaboration comes in. You can restrict settings to view-only, but you can also allow anyone to write a post, set up post moderation, and share administering privileges. I restricted the settings on my wall to moderate any posts, since it is is a hidden link. This means anyone can add a comment, link, or image, but I get to approve it before it is publicly attached to the wall.
Overall, I find Padlet to be a fun, free tool to play with. While it doesn't have an app version, it works on mobile web browsers. It's nice that you don't have to create an account if you want to try it out first. This feature, along with privacy settings, make it good software for schools. The slide show option also makes Padlet an interesting alternative presentation tool that could make you stand out from other PowerPoints or Prezis because other people won't be familiar with it.
Here are some ways I see writers, teachers, or writing centers using it:
- Brainstorming board - compile notes and links for ideas and resources
- How to/DIY guides (thanks, CLMOOC!)
- Project or event planning - assign roles, leave messages, gather material and ideas
- Portfolio - upload files, images, links to showcase
- Crowdsource feedback - ask a question, provide a link, get responses
- Feedback & file sharing- upload files and see others' writing and post feedback