Well, there is good news for all our educators. We now have technology and online platforms that are more effective than ever before at engaging learners and enhancing social learning. After all, we learn better when we learn together. Learners need to be reassured they are on the same path, and everyone wants to reach the same destination, which is the successful completion of the course.
So, if you are like me, you prioritize bringing students together in their learning. As educators, we are the motivators of both engagement with course content and learners engaging with other learners.
The idea of a digital campus is not new, and it has seen some remarkable success in recent times. Many of you have already developed some brilliant resources and engaged your learners with well-crafted activities. But I’ve wanted something that can bring my whole class together and give them a platform for social learning; to learn together and learn from each other. I have found Padlet to now be the right tool for me.
It has been great to see Padlet in action. I asked my engineering students to do some theoretical calculations as part of their assignment and then perform practical observations to compare their experimental results with the theory. The Padlet canvas worked really well as a location for the students to post their findings.
Using Padlet has helped me achieve two important things:
• My learners were able to write their assignments based on their real-life observations, (underpinned by their theoretical knowledge).
• They were able to learn from each other by sharing their findings in an easily accessible way.
Surprisingly, research shows only 5% of us are kinaesthetic (tactile) learners (Jenni Sebora Column - 15/09/08, 2020). But we all get joy and satisfaction from building something and solving problems by applying our knowledge in different contexts and learning from different people. Irrespective of your discipline, as an educator, you can always do something that brings meaning to your learners. All we need is our creativity!
Reference: Herald-journal.com. 2021.