I really enjoyed creating a project board with Padlet. I have used this tool many times before, but I didn’t realize how many new features they had added in recent years. I originally thought of it as just an online corkboard that was kind of messy, but could be a good place to collect and store things. Now I can see that it is also a great place for discussion and really working together on all kinds of projects.

I think this tool could be equally useful with colleagues and with students. With colleagues it could be used to plan special events, share and discuss resources at the department level, or even replace faculty meetings. It would also be a fantastic way to have students organize and collaborate on group projects. The fact that a Padlet can even link so many other resources–even other collaborative items like Google docs–means that they can use the Padlet as a central hub for managing the whole thing, while doing even deeper collaborative work on other platforms.

My Project

The Padlet I created is for a family technology night, a program that invites families to come to school so they can learn about the technology their students are using in school. The evening would include dinner, followed by an EdCamp-style series of sessions that attendees choose from a menu. Rather than have teachers conduct the sessions, we would have students actually do the teaching and assisting. This would give students a fantastic opportunity to learn and lead, and it would probably also improve overall attendance at the event.

This is the type of project that has multiple parts and requires the collaboration of quite a few different people. Having a central, online space for all of these pieces would make it so much easier for everyone to be on the same page. I think it could also cut way down on the time required for face-to-face meetings for these types of events. And who doesn’t want fewer meetings?

 

 

You can view the full Padlet here.

This Padlet includes the following elements:

• Six columns that address all of the important aspects of the event, including one column for team members to add their contact information and another for miscellaneous stuff.
• Several text-only posts, including a general overview in the first column and a discussion in the Food column about how to fund the dinner.
• Several links to blog posts or outside websites: Two posts in the Food column go to catering information on restaurant websites (not all shown in screenshot). Another post in the Miscellaneous column goes to a blog post about ways to make a family tech night fun. It is included to give team members some ideas they might want to consider.
• A video in the Miscellaneous column that shows 4th- and 5th-grade students leading sessions at an EdCamp. This is included to show other team members that kids can definitely do this!
• Two file uploads: One is an image showing a draft of the ad that will be used to advertise the event (in the Publicity & Written Materials column). The other is a PDF about catering options from Panera (in the Food column; not shown in screenshot).
• A link to a Google doc in the Sessions column. This is where session leaders will link everyone to their session outlines, so all session leaders can get a sense for what is going on in the other rooms, and they can work toward some kind of consistency in their presentations. This also allows the session leader to keep tabs on everyone’s progress.
• A voice recording in the first column. This welcomes team members to the Padlet and explains a little bit about how it works.
• Contributions from one collaborator: Danny Gonzalez created his own text-only post in the Sessions column, explaining what participants should do with their session posts. He also added a comment to the post about funding in the Food column.