It’s time to move…

Are you a user of Padlet? To ensure your students are covered for security and privacy concerns, you’ll need to move to CSU’s new, free account. And if you’re not a user…should you be?

Padlet allows you to create ‘virtual walls’ for communication and collaboration that can be easily embedded in your Interact2 site. With a simple click of the + icon, you or students can add anything from text to images, videos, maps, documents, screen recordings, audio and links. Each post can be rated (likes, votes, stars etc) or commented on, and the boards can be organised in custom ways for different learning needs. And it can all happen quickly and easily from any device – with a set-up time of just a matter of minutes.

Find out more about Padlet on CSUWiki, including the new Student Usage Guide developed by DLT, which they are encouraging staff to add as a first post to each Padlet board.

Why do you need to move to the CSU account?

Due to increasing security concerns with the free version, if you are using Padlet with students you are strongly encouraged to move to a new, CSU licensed account, which carries heightened security and privacy. Beyond that, if you’ve been using a free account you’ll find the unlimited boards a real bonus.

All those who are using Padlet with students should transfer their boards to CSU’s licensed, more secure version of Padlet as soon as possible.

There is no personal financial outlay involved in the transfer, and your Padlet boards will not be lost or have to be redone. You ‘choose’ which boards to ‘import’, and these are copied to your new CSU account. These boards also remain in your old account (though it’s important to note that they aren’t automatically synced with your new, imported boards). As the CSU account is a 12-month trial, when I imported my own boards, I chose only to import those I was currently using, leaving the others in my old account as an ‘archive’. If the trial is extended, I’ll import them all across then (you can import at any time).

How do you transfer your account?

To transfer your Padlets to a CSU account (or create a new CSU Padlet account):

1. Send an email to padlet@csu.edu.au
   In the Subject field use ‘New Account’ or ‘Account Transfer’ or ‘General question’ to allow a quick response from the appropriate support person.
2. In the content of the email, include your:
   Name
   Faculty/Division
   School/Unit
   Email Address and telephone extension
   The email address linked to your current account that you’d like transferred.
   
3. You’ll receive an email from Padlet, with your new account and password. It’s not automatic (so don’t stress if the email doesn’t come immediately), but I found the process to be very fast – within the hour.
4. Log in at http://charlessturtuni1.padlet.org with your designated username and password. You’ll then be prompted to select the boards you’d like to import to your new CSU account. You can also add other CSU collaborators.
5. IMPORTANT: When Padlet imports your boards to your CSU account, it makes a COPY of the board. This means the URL and embed codes for new, imported boards will be different to the originals. You will need to change these URLs in your Interact2 site, or wherever you have made them available to students.

When you import / setup your boards, make sure you click on ‘Share’ and check that your privacy is set to ‘secret’. Note that if you set it as ‘organisation wide’, it will be visible to anyone at CSU. The sharable link and embed code are also found under this share link.

All in all, I found the transfer to be incredibly quick and easy and took a matter of minutes. There is that catch about the URLs / embed codes though. Due to this, I suggest you wait until the end of semester to change any boards that are currently being used by students.

For further information contact Kim Nevins (x57564)

How are staff and students using Padlet in BJBS?

The most obvious way to use Padlet is to establish a learning community. Students can share some introductory thoughts – about themselves or in response to an early prompt – to establish connections with others. If your subject requires students to interact in any way, through discussion or collaboration, this kind of early activity is essential. In MGT230, students are asked to describe an ethical life as a pre-session question, and the board is re-inserted in their final topic, so they can revisit their initial thoughts and reflect on how they may have changed.

However, like most tools, real value comes when you start to play around with the possibilities. For example, other FoBJBS subjects have used Padlet boards to organise project groups, share student work (in this case, a vision board which formed part of an assessment), share resources or advice, or offer final reflections on what’s been learned. Our Law academics have also been embedding a Padlet board in their landing pages for quick, dynamic weekly subject updates for students.

There are many more ways it could be used though, including using it as a timeline, a Kanban board for monitoring students’ project work, or a backchannel for ideas, questions and comments shared by students during a presentation or workshop. You’ll find more examples here, but as always, focus on your pedagogical need first.