Padlet is an online collaboration tool that allows users to create virtual bulletin boards where they can post and organise content. It supports various
types of media, including text, images, videos, links, and documents, making it versatile for different use cases such as brainstorming, project planning, and classroom activities.
Users can customize their boards with different layouts and backgrounds, and the drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to organize and rearrange posts. Padlet enables real-time collaboration, allowing multiple users to contribute simultaneously and comment on each other’s posts.
Accessing Padlet
To access Padlet, head over to staffs.padlet.org to login.
Here you can login with either your email address or your username which will look like X000000X@student.staffs.ac.uk (If it is your first time logging in then you will want to change your password first).
You will normally be greeted with either the “Recents” tab or the “Staffordshire University” tab. Recents will show which Padlets you have recently opened.
Making Your First Padlet
To begin creating your first padlet, select the pink “Make a padlet” button in the top right corner.
This will present you with a range of style templates which you can pick from to help you make the most out of your Padlet. Its worth noting that once you have selected one layout you can still change the layout in the settings. A random background will also be set but similarly, you can change this.
The Set-up
We usually recommend setting up your Padlet in advance just to give you the time to ensure you have the settings correct but as you will see, it is a very short process and requires only checking a couple of options.
Settings
To access the settings, just click on the cog icon on the right side of the window.
Here you can change your title, the description and a lot of the cosmetics of your padlet such as how posts are organised and fonts etc.
The ones to check however, are listed under “Engagement”, “Posts” and “Content”. These three settings allow you turn on and off commenting, reactions, displaying post authors as well as the moderation options.
Sharing
To share your Padlet, select the arrow icon in the top right. Here you will be greeted by the sharing menu.
Visitors
In order to allow others to post on your Padlet, you first need to update the visitor permissions. “No access” keeps the Padlet private and doesn't allow anyone to view the content. We usually recommend “Writer” as “Moderator” will allow them to delete the posts of others.
Collaborators
If you wish to add a collaborator, this can be done in the next step, this will give shared ownership of the Padlet and allow the collaborator to update some of the settings for the Padlet.
Submission Link
The submission request link is another useful tool which many forget about. Using this allows visitors to submit information without being able to see the whole Padlet until they have submitted.
Slideshow
The slideshow feature is a great way to display what has been contributed to the Padlet, it will run through and display what has been submitted.
Get QR Code
Utilising a QR code for in person sessions can be a great way to get students to interact during a session. Just remember to make it large enough that their phone cameras can capture it from the back!
Export as PDF
You are also able to save backups of various Padlets by exporting them as PDF's. This can be a nice way to share out the results of the Padlet.
