HyperPadlets & Padlet Timelines

On 1/29/20, in the #EduDuctTape Twitter Chat, 6th grade teacher Matt Meyer shared an idea that kind of blew my mind.

A3- Packaging content into new and exciting ways is a great instructional shift to increase engagement and retention of key information.

Trying my first #hyperpadlet with @Padlet 's new timeline feature in SS this week. #EduDuctTape https://t.co/Nrd3mb2F2i

— Matt Meyer (@54Mr_Meyer) January 30, 2020

This is something that I like to refer to as the adjacent possible – by exposing myself to something new (adjacent) it opened up 3 new ideas (possible) for me.  Let’s explore them below.

1. First off, I had never heard the term #HyperPadlet.

And that’s a shame, because it’s a phenomenal idea!  If you asks the “HyperDoc Girls”  (Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton & Sarah Landis) about HyperDocs, they would tell you that, despite the word docs in the name, they can be used in any platform. They are, as described in this post “a way to package digital lessons in order to create quality inquiry-based learning experiences.”  Therefore, they’re platform-agnostic!  Pick the one that best fits your style, topic, and activity!

So, why not use Padlet for HyperDocs?  I don’t know why not to do it!  (Some educators may say they wouldn’t do it because Padlet isn’t completely free.  If you feel that way, that’s certainly fine and there are other tools that you could use.)  Let’s, instead, talk about why you might choose to use Padlet for HyperDocs:

1. Format Flexibility! There are 8 different Padlet formats: Wall, Canvas, Stream, Grid, Shelf, Backchannel, Map & Timeline.

   

2. Content Flexibility! Once you select a format, your posts on the Padlet can be pretty much anything!

   

3. No Student Accounts Required – Your students will not need an account to access your Padlets or post/comment on your Padlets.  They would, however, need an account in order to make their own.
4. Remake – Want to reuse a Padlet in multiple classes or across multiple years? You can click Remake to create a copy of the Padlet.  You can even choose what elements of the Padlet are copied.  Note: any remade Padlets will count as additional Padlets, so you’ll need to have enough Padlets available in your account or be a paid user or archive the original Padlet.
5. Customization – Padlet gives you lots of options in the settings area.  You can customize the appearance, change the URL to make it easier to access, turn comments on/off, turn reactions (stars, upvotes, likes, grades) on/off, require approval for posts, filter profanity.  Lots of options!
6. Real-time Collaboration – If you choose to allow collaboration, you and your collaborators (students! teachers! parents!) can collaborate in realtime.  You can’t change each other’s posts (that’s probably a good thing), but you can all post & comment simultaneously!
7. Color Posts to Categorize Them – Check out how this Padlet uses colors to categorize the individual posts. This could be really useful in a HyperPadlet!

2. Second, I didn’t know that Padlet had a Timeline option!

After Matt’s tweet, I discovered that a Timeline option was added by Padlet in December 2019 (see this post).  And that’s phenomenal news, because I never have a perfect answer when a teacher asks about a timeline-making tool.  There are a few out there that do pretty well (timeline.knightlab.com has alwas been the option that I shared, and it’s still a good one) but I’m excited to have a new one to add to the list.

So, I decided to try it out!  Around the time of Matt’s tweet, I had been working on sprucing up my Speaking Page and decided “Hey, why not create a Padlet Timeline to feature there!” It was the perfect way to take it for a test drive and showcase its abilities.  And it worked great! (see below, note that I have it set so that you can’t add anything, but that you can comment if you’d like!)

3. HyperPadlet Timelines! 🤯

And this brings us back to Matt’s tweet.  He wasn’t just sharing about HyperPadlets.  He wasn’t just sharing about Padlet Timelines. He was sharing about HyperPadlet Timelines!! What a phenomenal format for a HyperDoc!  Imagine the possibilities in leading students through a learning experience built in a Padlet Timeline!

I bet that you’re imagining them right now!  If you have any exciting ideas, please share them in the comments!