Welcome to Padlet for Schools for teachers!

Welcome to your new Padlet for Schools account!

Prefer to watch a video? This covers everything below.

What is Padlet?

Padlet is a software that allows you to create, use and share virtual boards that include lesson plans, discussion boards and fun classroom activities. We also have interactive whiteboards where you can create games, story books and so much more!

We have two different types of padlets: Boards and Sandboxes!

If you want to see what a beautiful board looks like in action, check it out here!

To see what an interactive Sandbox entails, click here!

What is Padlet for Schools?

Padlet for Schools is a closed ecosystem. Your school controls who can be a member and what permissions each member has. You will log in through a unique link that grants you access to a private space where padlets can be created and shared.

To see Padlet for Schools in action, request a demo! If you already know Padlet for Schools is for you - click here to get a quote so you can get started!

Accessing your Padlet for Schools account

You will access your Padlet for Schools account through your organization's unique link. This link will be in the format of <yourschoolsubdomain>.padlet.org. For instance, if you teach at the School of Rock, you might log in at schoolofrock.padlet.org. This link will be provided to you by your account’s administrator.

Your administrator will choose the login option that you’ll use. The options include password login and single sign-on through Google, Microsoft or ClassLink.

Managing the account’s members

The administrator of your Padlet for Schools account will manage members by adding and removing students and teachers, but admins can grant these responsibilities to teachers. Consult your organization's admins to see if you'll be tasked with adding or managing members.

I already have a Padlet account. How do I Import my content to Padlet for Schools?

To import padlets from an existing account, log into your Padlet for Schools account, click on your account name in the top-right corner of the dashboard and select Import.

Follow the instructions on the following screen and enjoy your new Padlet for Schools account.

Find detailed instructions on how to import your padlets here.

Using padlets

Choosing a format

Boards

The first decision you make when you create a board is deciding on a format. A board's format dictates how its posts will be arranged. The Wall, Grid and Canvas formats allow you to see many of your posts at once on one large canvas. Timeline and Stream allow you to order posts sequentially, and the Map format allows you to place posts geographically.

Each format, except Canvas, allows you to group posts by Sections. Sections are especially useful on the Wall format, where the Sections form vertical columns that are great for organization.

You can see some examples of Classroom boards at the bottom of this document.

Sandboxes

Because a Sandbox is meant to be an empty whiteboard where your creativity begins to flow - there are no formatting options. Just let your imagination run free!

Posting on a padlet

Post text and files: A padlet is a visual space that allows you to share and organize thoughts. In addition to text, you can post any kind of media file on a padlet, and it will always be available in a beautiful and usable format.

You can post YouTube links to a padlet and they will be playable. Documents will be readable. Tweets will be visible. You can Draw images by hand, create padlets with AI, record your screen or search for a GIF.

Author and timestamp and Post fields

In the 'Posts' section of a board's Settings tab, you can toggle 'Author and timestamp' to display the author's name and make custom post fields available for your posts.

Author and timestamp: If you click Show next to 'Author and timestamp,' the name of the person who contributes to a board will be displayed above their post. This is also known as 'post attribution.' The timestamp of their post will also appear. This is only useful if contributors are logged into accounts. If this setting is enabled and someone who is not logged in contributes, their post will be anonymous.

Post fields: If you click on Post fields, you can customize the different options that are available to students in the post composer and create custom fields for your use case. Learn more about Post fields here.

Comments and reactions

In the Engagement section of your board's Settings menu (⚙️), you can choose to enable Comments and Reactions.

Comments: If comments are ON, anyone with access to the board will be able to leave a comment below any post. This is a good way to allow students to raise concerns and provide feedback on the information on a board without modifying any of the posts.

Reactions: These settings are fun and allow the users of a board to interact and provide one another feedback in a different way. The reaction types include star ratings, thumbs up or down, scoring and likes.

Content moderation

In the Content section of your Settings panel, you can click on the drop-down menu next to 'Moderation' and select how much you would like to have control over what is posted to the padlet. Read more about the Moderation settings here.

Adding students and deciding their permissions

Your school may choose to give accounts to students. If your school gives students accounts, you will be able to turn ON post attribution in any of your board's Settings. In this case, you will be able to see which student made which post on your board. Otherwise, the posts will show up as anonymous, and you will need to ask students to identify themselves in the post to see who posted what.

If students have accounts and post attribution is turned ON, posts will appear like this:

If students don’t have accounts, you’ll need them to identify themselves before posting if you want to know who made what post. Like this:

Your school may allow students to make padlets themselves. In this case, you may perform activities in which students create and submit their own boards. For instance, instead of asking students to introduce themselves with just a post on a shared board, you could have each student create an introduction of their own and then post their board on a shared board. This way students can build comprehensive introductions with all the possibilities a board provides.

Consult your account’s administrators to see if your students will have accounts and if they will be allowed to make padlets.

Sharing padlets

There are many different options. The simplest way to share a padlet is to copy, paste and distribute the padlet's URL. You can also share via QR code, embed your padlet or choose from several other options. All share options can be found by selecting the Share arrow in the board's action bar - or the Share arrow in the top-right corner of your Sandbox.

Boards	Sandboxes

Find a more detailed guide on how to share and publish padlets here.

Sharing padlets via LMS

In addition to sharing your padlet via URL or embed code, we offer integration for several major LMSes, like Canvas and Moodle. If your school or district has integrated Padlet into your LMS, you should be able to add padlets as assignments directly from your LMS. If your school has not integrated Padlet into your LMS, you can still share your padlets there. For more on adding padlets to your LMS, read this article.

Privacy and permissions

Whenever you create a padlet for use in the classroom, you need to establish its privacy settings. The administrator of a Padlet for Schools account can establish default privacy settings for new padlets, so if you prefer a specific setting, you can request that your administrator make it the default. Your administrator will also be able to restrict certain privacy settings, but in most cases, you will be able to determine your own privacy settings for your padlets.

Link privacy

Here are all possible privacy options:

• Secret – Visitors are not restricted to members of your Padlet for Schools account. Anyone with the link can access the padlet.

• Secret - Password – Visitors are required to enter a password to access this padlet. Visitors are not restricted to members of your Padlet for Schools account. Anyone with the link and the password can access the padlet. This option is great for padlets with potentially sensitive information.
• Org only - The padlet is only accessible to logged-in members of your organization. This privacy option is perfect if you want to restrict access to everyone outside of your organization.

Visitor permissions

You also control 'Visitor permissions' to your padlet. You control whether a visitor is a Reader, Writer, Commenter, Moderator or Administrator on your padlet, which will determine how they're able to engage with the padlet. You can also choose to allow No access to the padlet at all!

• Reader is perfect if your padlet is designed to present stagnant information. If you set 'Visitor permissions' to Reader, users will be able to see everything on the padlet but can’t change the material.
• Commenter is a great option if you just want to collect feedback on posts. Users with this permission will be allowed to make Comments or react to posts as long as those features are enabled.
• Writer is ideal for padlets that you want your students to collaborate on and contribute to with their own posts.

• Moderator/Administrator are good options if you are working on a padlet with other teachers or administrators and want them to have more control over the entire padlet.

Organizational tools

Padlet also offers a few tools that will be valuable if organization is important to you.

Bookmarks: If you see a padlet that you want to keep track of you can bookmark it to save on your profile. You can also manage your bookmarked padlets with folders.

Embedding padlets: You can also manage padlets you're interested in by posting the padlets within another padlet. This concept is called a central wall and it allows you to share collections of padlets. Here's what it looks like.

Classroom examples

Padlet is a flexible tool that can be used to facilitate an unlimited range of exercises, activities and lessons. Here are a few of the most popular use cases for Padlet in the classroom.

Boards

KWL chart: Create a Wall with three sections to make a KWL chart to map the learning process.

Group discussion: Use a shared Wall or Grid padlet to gather and address students' thoughts in an organized fashion.

Study guide: You can post any file type on a padlet. Take advantage of this feature to build comprehensive study guides that gather pdf files, images, text, and video all in one place.

Lecture presentation with Slideshow: Padlet offers a feature called Slideshow, which allows you to build beautiful presentations with just one click. Slideshow is an easy way for students to build and present slideshows for the class and a great option for teachers that are sick of PowerPoint. Learn more here.

Daily schedule: Start the day off right by using a Timeline or Stream padlet to visualize your daily schedule.

Where you’ve been: Use a Map padlet to visualize the travel histories of everyone in your classroom.

Classroom bulletin board: Collect miscellaneous thoughts and ideas on a long-term shared class padlet.

Advanced organization - Central padlet: A great way to keep your padlets organized is with a central padlet. By posting all your favorite padlets in one central padlet you can keep track of them. You can even nest central padlets within other central padlets. This rabbit hole goes all the way down!

Sandbox

Interactive games: Create fun and interactive games to learn about certain subjects.

Reading reflection: Have your students read and reflect on a page of a book and jot down some notes!

Comparison charts: Go through the differences in time periods.

Matching activities: Create activities where you can match a word to its picture or a problem to the answer.

Ice breakers: Fun ice breakers to get to know your class better!

KWL charts: Create a Sandbox with three different sections to make a KWL chart to map the learning process.