Collaborative Learning with Padlet

Welcome to this week's EduTech talk with Geo.  I would like to draw your attention to another tool that we can use to enhance participation and collaboration in our language classroom. 

Introduction

Collaborative learning is loosely defined as a situation in which two or more people choose to or try to learn something together. It emanates from Vygotsky's Sociocultural theory which holds that learning best occurs when a novice co-constructs knowledge and understanding through interaction with knowledgeable others. As the learner attempts to express words, the teacher provides support through assisted dialogue and scaffolding. Collaborative learning involves learning acquiring knowledge through social interaction with teachers and each other.

With the emergence of education technology, a lot of tools have been developed over the years to stimulate learning based on various learning theories such as motivation, cognitive and sociocultural theories.  Padlet is one of the tools which enable learners to interact with each other under the watchful guidance of the teacher online in real-time. It has a free version that 

Why Padlet 

I have chosen Padlet because it is ideal for different classroom situations and can be used for different activities. Below are some of the features

Technical Benefits

Both the teacher and learners can sign up for Padlet using email addresses. By using email addresses, learners' true identities are revealed when they post making it easy for the teacher to know which group members are participating. In addition, Padlet has a free version that is easily accessible to both learners and the teacher. It, therefore, requires no payment save for minimal data costs. 

Collaborative 

Learners have the opportunity to complete a task in pairs and small groups both at school and at home. For example, in my Padlet below, I chose the Timeline template to create a task by linking time to tenses. Each group has to provide examples of sentences in a given tense. All group members have specific roles to play, for instance, the group working on the present tense will have a person gathering five examples for each sub-tense of the tense (simple, continuous, perfect and perfect continuous), and the same is repeated in other tenses. This gives learners a chance to develop critical skills and acquire valuable knowledge through interaction. They share roles and information and evaluate their own contribution to group goals.

How To Use It in Classroom

Padlet can be used to perform a variety of classroom activities in different subjects. To demonstrate this, I have created a Padlet on a lesson in English Grammar: Tenses

1. Visit https://padlet.com and sign up with your email address

2. Create a Padlet and choose from many templates (Wall, Timeline, Map etc)

3. Make a post

4. Decide on security perimeters such as:

(a) revealing the identity of participants

(b) approval of learner's posts

For a full tutorial, watch the video below 

 

Constraints 

Like many tech tools, Padlet poses serious challenges in low-tech education systems like ours. Firstly, few secondary school teachers, let alone learners know much about it, thereby making it difficult to advocate its use. Secondly, the majority of public schools have either no or unreliable internet connectivity which reduces access to web-based tools like Padlet. Thirdly, restricted access to electronic gadgets like phones and tablets imposed on learners in public schools hinders the use of such tools in classrooms. 

Conclusion 

While Padlet is an excellent tool for collaborative learning, in Zambia, at the moment, only college and university students can benefit from it. Secondary school learners would equally enjoy working with it if necessary technological challenges impeding the full use of tech tools in classrooms were eliminated. I hope that barriers placed on the use of technology in schools are removed in the next few years for our learners to enjoy their activities using tech tools like Padlet.