ICT tools: Paddlet

    Paddlet is the first tool I'm going to review in the blog (padlet.com). This one is a free online notice board that allows both teachers and students to digitally organize the classroom. What can you post in this board? Images, videos, links and documents are the main ones Paddlet allows to be shared. The interaction it provides for the classroom participants is great and since it's very easy to use, students and teachers won't have much trouble learning how to use this tool. Also, the tool can be access by any web browser-capable device, for instance mobile phones, tablets or computers. For you to have a visual example of what Paddlet is, I have created a material with this tool.

     With the material above, let's imagine a situation where a teacher is teaching his or her students vocabulary related to media and for them to get a clearer idea, this teacher creates this Paddlet with the vocabulary and pictures that represent them. The instructions students would have to follow is to add more pictures to continue providing visual examples of the vocabulary though. In this way, each student has the possibility to look for the pictures and contribute to the class with their research. 

 

  Now, why Paddlet is relevant to language learning? This tool, first of all, makes the integration of technology in the classroom possible. Even if it's not the most advanced technological tool, it provides some kind of virtuality for the students to interact with. Peer learning is another opportunity Paddlet provides, as the work done there is available for all students, allowing them to work collaboratively in each task. Finally, what I think it's the most relevant aspect of Paddlet regarding language learning, and not only for this matter, is the fact that it allows opportunities to learn beyond the classroom. This can cause a huge impact on the learning of any matter, however, I'll stick to the English language learning to exemplify. Let's picture a physical classroom where the teacher, due to time, could not deliver completely the contents for the students, or it could also be a situation where all the contents were delivered at time, however, the teacher noticed how little the students understood them. Now, with Paddlet, these contents could be delivered in a creative way for the students to learn or to finish learning. All this being revised outside classroom time, adding some flexibility to the students as well. 

  The first thing that comes to my mind when thinking about the approaches to language learning or research that support the usage of this tool, is the flipped classroom approach, as this one aims for students to do some activities outside the classroom to later use time in class to attend to student's problem regarding this or other inquiries. In this matter, a teacher could create material for students to discuss with recordings using Paddlet outside classroom time to later discuss more conceptual aspects during class time. Another approach that could be sustained by this tool is the task based language teaching or TBLT. Because this approach is centered on delivering authentic tasks to students, Paddlet can be used to give such tasks to students. These tasks could all be instructed to be assessed using English, thus creating discussions with students recording themselves to later post those recordings in the board, making them write texts or short presentations using images posted on Paddlet, and many more.

   

   From my perspective, I would make use of this tool to foster language learning. Why? Let's take high school learners as a target audience. From a teacher's perspective, how could we use Paddlet for them? The answer is, to boost some of their English abilities, for which I'll mention two. Writing is the first ability that can be fostered through Paddlet. Instructing them to create short to medium-length texts in the posts would serve for them to use the second language while they are writing these texts. Once completed the task, the teacher could revise their work and provide them feedback on this. The other ability worth mentioning to be fostered by Paddlet is the speaking one. With the possibility to post personal recordings, students can practice their speaking skills when asked to record themselves talking about a specific topic, creating debates, or sharing personal information. All these also being able to be shared and heard to all the students, giving them more opportunities to practice their second language while listening to their classmates.

   

   This technological tool is not perfect, as it, like most web tools available, presents some limitations, being the first one of these, its free usage. The free version of Paddlet only allows users to create a maximum of 3 Paddlets, while the "pro" version offers an unlimited number. This lead to free users having to delete their previous Paddlets to be able to create new ones, denying the opportunity to store multiple of them. Another limitation the tool possesses, is the control teachers have regarding student's posts. As most of the time Paddlet tasks are assigned to be made outside classroom time, each student could make a post at the time they choose, making it very hard for teachers to control what they are posting. A final limitation or in this case, a disadvantage of Paddlet is the fact that it uses web browsing engines. What this means is that inappropriate content could show up when students look for photos or videos, as web filters are not so good sometimes.   

   

   To sum up, Paddlet is a technological tool that offers plenty of learning and teaching opportunities to teachers and students. Its free usage makes it usable for everyone. Even with some disadvantages or limitations this tool presents, the outside classroom learning and collaboratively learning the tool provides makes Paddlet a top-notch tool to rely on when teaching. With this being said, I end the review of the first technological tool, Paddlet. Thanks for reading and remember to follow the blog to stay tuned for more reviews.