You might have heard of Wakelet, a new, free-to-use social media platform that’s a mix of Facebook and Pinterest. You may not know, however, that it is specifically designed to help educators arrange learning resources and collaborate with students.
Wakelet features a “timeline” format that allows users to share videos, links, social media posts, and images. Users can arrange content into “collections,” which can then be shared with students. Teachers have found it to be an easy way to provide both primary and secondary learning materials on a subject, in a user-friendly design that students can access and revisit both in class and at home.
Collections, which can be used to separate subjects, are easily accessible using a graphic-heavy format, as seen below. Collections can only be viewed by students who are given the link by the teacher. Access can even be revoked by the teacher at the end of the year.
Wakelet has tools to search YouTube and post videos without leaving the platform. It also integrates with Twitter as well as Google Drive, so all of your Google documents can be uploaded and viewed within a collection you create. You can also upload PDFs, which are easy to view.
Teachers even use Wakelet to write weekly newsletters, which is detailed in a video below. It’s also simple to post video messages or lessons for students or parents to review. Online assignments can also be posted and submitted by students, allowing Wakelet to provide a fully integrated and self-contained learning experience.
Saving links, tweets, and videos are even easier to save if you install a browser extension. By clicking the Wakelet button, it will automatically save an item without having to copy and paste. You can download and install the extension for your browser by clicking here.
This quick primer provides an overview of how Wakelet works.
If you’re new to Wakelet and need a more in-depth introduction, this video will help. It’s nearly an hour long, but provides much more detail into the features teachers can access.
This video details how students can use Wakelet for work submission, research, or to create their own portfolio. Students don’t even have to create an account to use their features, which is good news for parents concerned about privacy issues. Teachers can send invites to students to collaborate with them on the platform.
You can visit their website by clicking here.