Padlet for Students

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Before you try to use Padlet, please do these 2 steps:
• Overview
• How to Access Padlet
• How to Post to Padlet
• How to Interact with Posts
• Preserving your Padlet
• Padlet Support

Before you try to use Padlet, please do these 2 steps:

I. Check your Canvas user account settings to make sure you have an email address listed. If not, add an email address to your Canvas user account and make it your default email address in Canvas user account if you do not have one. 

95% of access issues are resolved when students do these two steps.

Overview

Padlet is a multimedia tool that has several different bulletin board-type screens for instructors to choose from depending on their specific use case. Students are able to post photos, comments, gifs, Youtube videos, or even a Spotify playlist. This tool lends itself to collaboration and community in the course. Please see Padlets overview and video on What is Padlet? for more information.

How to Access Padlet

Students will access Padlet through an integration with Canvas. 

This means the instructor will add Padlet to Canvas and the student will click into Padlet from that access point. A button will alert them that a new tab will open containing Padlet. 

Students will never have to go to Padlet. com or make an account. The students padlet account is automatically created by accessing the Padlet through Canvas.

How to Post to Padlet

Posting to Padlet is very similar to other bulletin board-style applications students may have experience with, e.g. Tumblr or Pinterest.

Once students click into Padlet from the assignment, they may see a Padlet that is blank or Padlet with a few posts on it, depending on the assignment or use case.

To contribute to a Padlet, students will navigate to the lower right-hand side to a pink circle with a plus sign in it.

If students hover over the pink circle button, they will have additional information on how to add to the board. 

If a student clicks on the pink button, they will see a second screen that provides a small space to write and five hexagon shapes to click on in order to add media or text that they would like to contribute. An example of this screen is provided below.

The pink hexagon shape with the three horizontal dots provides students with another screen (below) that allows for even more posting options. This additional screen includes searchable databases of gifs, images, and videos, as well as provides an easy way to access popular websites, such as YouTube and Spotify.

How to Interact with Posts

Once a Padlet is populated with posts, students will be able to comment and react to each other's posts. 

Students will also be able to edit or delete the posts that they have created.

Below is an image showcasing different options located on a post:

• To comment on a post, students will begin typing in the 'Add Comment' section located below the post.
• One 'like' is signified by clicking the heart icon, some instructors may use a thumbs up or thumbs down icon depending on the use case and personal preference.
• Additional edit options are available to the creator of the post. These are located under the three vertical dots in the top right of the post.

Please note: Only the student who created the post or the instructor will be able to edit or delete the post. 

Preserving your Padlet

We encourage students to save their Padlet as a pdf if they would like to hold on to their work after the course ends.

Please follow Padlets documentation for How to make a Printable Copy of your Padlet.

Padlet Support

If you experience difficulties while using Padlet, please reach out to online-learning-help@sas.upenn.edu with a short description of the issue.

• Padlet Knowledge Base - A great place to learn more about Padlet
• Padlet Contact Form - A way to quickly reach out to Padlet support
• Padlet Status - Is Padlet down for everyone? Check here!