1. Digital Portfolios
Students can create digital portfolios using Wakelet to showcase their learning and progress.
This allows students to demonstrate their creativity and unique personalities along with fostering independence, responsibility, and ownership over their learning.
If you’re not sure where to start, Wakelet already has a plethora of templates created – you can find them here. You also have the ability to create your own and share with students. Either way, using a Wakelet template is as simple as clicking the three dot menu at the top of the collection then clicking “copy collection”.
For more on using digital portfolios as alternative assessments, check out this EdTech Nerds blog post.
2. Interactive Lessons
Teachers can create interactive lessons by curating resources and adding questions, notes, and multimedia. Curate video clips or additional online articles for students to view then pose specific questions for students to answer. Ask them to go a step further and give video feedback with Microsoft Flip, which is integrated into the platform and can be used with the click of a button.
3. Collaborative Projects
Do you remember group projects? Me too. Did you like them? Yeah, me neither – well, most of the time. An exception would be to use Wakelet, which allows students and teachers to collaborate on projects and share resources in real-time.
Rather than the typical group project where one student does most of the work while the others wait for the “correct” answers or “gently encouraging” that one student that refuses to contribute, put a spin on collaboration. Instead of that advanced student leaping too far ahead, have that student help those falling behind. The student can become a temporary teaching assistant by granting them commenting and editing rights within the shared Collection or Space.
Another option would be for an advanced class to curate resources and create activities for lower grade levels. For example, each student in an AP class contributes to a Wakelet Space or Collection as an assessment, which can then be used as a teaching tool for on-level or younger students. Students benefit from other students’ knowledge by having additional study materials curated for them and presented in a different voice than the teacher’s.
4. Professional Development
Teachers and coaches can use Wakelet to organize and share professional development resources and best practices. This is also a great way for teachers to share their takeaways from a lesson on a particular topic or tool. Think of the opportunity for staff members to remember what it’s like being students. Besides reexamining the way they assess their own students, teachers get to see a tool used from a different perspective and think about how it might be used in their own classes.
5. Wakelet Spaces as an Ongoing Resource Library
Every time my partner and I present on a particular topic at a conference, we use the same Wakelet Space for participants to share their ideas and takeaways. This allows for even more resources available to our audience because it’s an ever-growing collaboration where people can check back now and then to see what’s new.
Think about the possibilities of utilizing Wakelet Spaces with your PLN’s to create collections of resources for specific units, topics, or skills.
6. Differentiated Instruction
Wakelet can be used to provide personalized learning experiences by curating resources and sharing specific Collections with specific students tailored to each student’s individual needs. Using Wakelet as the digital resource pack for a unit, you can provide support content to help those who need to catch up, on-level content in different voices or mediums for those who didn’t quite get it yet, and advanced, deeper content for those who have a passion for the topic.
It’s a highly reusable module to add in to your lesson that allows students to drive their own learning without the shame of falling behind, ridicule they might feel for asking questions in front of the class, or geeking out over the subject and ending up labeled as the “Hermione” of the group. Having these resources at the ready also helps those who are either struggling or getting ahead to stay on task and become less of a disruption for the rest of your class.
You can even offload some of the curation work by privately asking those students who excel in particular areas to help find worthwhile and entertaining resources to add to your Collections.
7. Assessment
Teachers can use Wakelet to create bell ringers, exit tickets, and other assessment tools; and to organize your activities by date or topic. Use the Collection to check for prior knowledge before starting a new unit or to quickly assess student learning at the end of each class. One of my favorite questions for assessment after giving a test is asking the students “What information do you wish had been on the test but wasn’t asked?” It gives them a chance to convey knowledge that wasn’t necessarily highlighted and gives you insight into what the students thought were key takeaways from a unit. Wakelet makes this easy with the ability to add a plethora of item types to a Collection, including not only links, images, and text, but also audio files, tweets, videos via the Flip integration, creations from Canva, and files from Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox.
8. Student Reflections
Wakelet can be used for student reflection and self-assessment. Think of a Wakelet Collection as a learning journal. Students can add notes, pose questions, curate resources from the web, and outline essays or projects. They can organize their thoughts in a way that allows for individualized creativity and reflects their learning back to the teacher.
9. Parent Communication
Teachers can use Wakelet to communicate with parents by sharing resources and updates. Whether it’s a class newsletter, blog, social media posts from your school, or a one-stop shop for classroom information, keep parents in the loop in an organized and accessible way.
10. Classroom Management
Wakelet can be used to organize classroom resources, schedules, and procedures. House live links to Google Docs and Sheets or Microsoft Word and Excel files so students know where to find important information in one place. Think about posting your classroom expectations, syllabus, or other important notices in a class Space or Collection. You can even include video messages! No more lost papers or “I didn’t know where to find that” excuses.
Bonus
Use Wakelet to create a sub plan with resources, assignments, and a place to turn in work. The Wakelet Collection can be shared with the sub via QR code printed and left in your box or on your desk. Wakelet’s ease of use and intuitive interface make it easy for any sub to pick up where you left off and keep your students on task, moving forward, and out of trouble.
Check out this sub plan template from Ryan McGinnis to get you started.
Conclusion
Be sure to join the Wakelet Community where you can find free training, information about Wakelet’s products and programs, and meet other Wakelet users. The Wakelet Team is incredibly responsive so don’t be afraid to reach out to them or feel free to ask EdTech Nerds for help. Both Destiny (https://wakelet.com/@EdTechDestiny) and Kris (https://wakelet.com/@KrisThurston) are Wakelet Ambassadors and would love to assist you on your journey riding the #WakeletWave.