Padlet

 

Breaking Bogart (06)

A bit of a shorter blog this week on Breaking Bogart. I am still a bit wiped out from closing out my research on ThingLink. You can view my developed example product covered in my research paper here.

I got the chance to read through and explore an e-book from a college course I have gone through. The e-book was a compilation of 11 teaching technologies and their associated tools. (Eleven including my own entry). I read through the e-book, which was an enjoyable experience as it felt like a satisfying conclusion to the six weeks researching, learning, and blogging alongside my peers. Although many of the technologies within the e-book were of interest to me, I focused in on a website and tool named Padlet. I will describe here not what Padlet is self described as, but what Padlet can do for me in my field and aspects that I like and aspects that I do not enjoy.

I see Padlet as a visual organizer and a presentation tool to be used mostly by myself, for myself. Padlet has many, many tools available to visualize and present information. Idea boards, event planning, even file management are just some concepts and activities made more understandable and navigable when using Padlet. Padlet offers hundreds of ways to organize and present what you need it to.

Padlet could become an incredible way for me to lesson plan. In the above image, you can see a snippet of a lesson plan for 4-wheel, computerized vehicle alignment. This entire Padlet board was generated by an A.I. from a few simple prompts and parameters. SO USEFUL! I didn't even realize that this was happening as I began my first Padlet. With these sorts of outlines and ways to track my ideas, I could approach each course, each week, and each lesson with a way to visually recall and plan for what my student's need.

Padlet however, almost has too many options, especially for a beginner like me. Padlet has just so many templates and options that fill up the entire screen that it can feel quite overwhelming to navigate and decision make on the site. There are ways to learn and develop within Padlet which is ideal. But the landing page for the help and development similarly includes a vast number of interactable and clickable items. I am sure as time goes on and I get used to the program and its tools, these negatives will be reduced drastically.

At the end of the day, I am just super excited to continue the long journey of expanding my horizons. As I learn new technologies, tools, and strategies through ought my professional learning network (PLN), my instruction, and thereby my students, will benefit more and more.

PEACE OUT!

Vaughn