Cool Tool Alert -- with an Asterisk

My post for this week will highlight a tool that many of you might already be familiar with -- Padlet.

Think of Padlet like an interactive bulletin board. You create the board (you can even design it to look the way you want it), set a topic for the board, and then students can post on the board as well as comment and "like" each others' posts. You as the teacher have ultimate control over visibility and commenting and privacy. And to be honest, I am really oversimplifying what Padlet can do. If you want, you can check out a Padlet here. The topic for the board is ideas for using Padlet in the classroom. Feel free to look at the ideas posted there. You can also add your own and "like" the ones you think are good ideas or comment on posts. Just click the plus sign to add your own post!

If you've used Padlet before, then you've likely enjoyed the fact that you've got this great tool to use with your kids, and it is FREE -- something every teacher really, really loves! But here's the asterisk, and you know this if you saw Jeremy's retweet this week -- Padlet is only kind of free now. You are allowed up to 7 boards; once you reach 7, you're maxed out. If you want more, then you have to go to the paid version, which costs in the neighborhood of $100/year. You can delete old Padlets to be able to add a new one, but with the free version, you'll only be able to have a maximum of 7 Padlets. You can export a Padlet as a PDF if you want to keep it for your records before you delete it. In my opinion, a teacher could probably make 7 Padlets work. I think it is a really great tool, but $100 a year is a pretty hefty price tag. I understand why companies have to charge money, but sometimes when they go to a pay model, teachers seek elsewhere to find similar functionality at a cheaper (aka free) price. If they can't, then they tend to work with the limitations of a free account or they abandon the tool altogether. So I am not disparaging Padlet in any way; I am just acknowledging the tough truth that teachers have a hard time paying for some services.

So, what do you think? Is Padlet something you could see yourself using? I'd love to sit down with you and show you exactly how to use it! Share your thoughts in the comments, and be sure to share ideas for how to actually use Padlet on the Padlet above :-)