What are You Doing with the #Last5? A Padlet Parking Lot with Options



What are you doing with the last five minutes of class? Are students doing homework, packing up materials, and goofing off? Let's continue with our series titled #LAST5 and explore several ways to keep your students engaged during this challenging time period. My last post focused on providing students with an audio version of summarizing learning through AudioBoo

Today we will look at creating a parking lot. Many teachers use parking lot activities to summarize learning at the end of the day. Teachers post a question and have students record their responses on post-it notes. Post-it notes are then placed on a wall, chalkboard, or window as students leave. The teacher collects the post-it notes and checks for understanding. 

This is a simple, but effective low-tech way of seeing where students are at; however, it only addresses one type of learner - students who like to write.  How can we use technology to accomplish the same thing, while providing students with different options for demonstrating their understanding (Multiple Means of Action / Expression)? 


Post-It Notes with Options

If you love post-it notes like I do, then Padlet is the program for you. Create and customize your own Padlet "board" and share the URL with students. When students access the board, they can double-click on it to create a virtual post-it note. This can be done without having an account! 

After the post-it notes is created, have students record their names and answer your question with several different options. Students can:

  • Type their responses
  • Share a URL
  • Upload any type of file. For example, students can upload a picture, which will appear on the post-it note. 
  • Use their webcam to take a picture

The UDL Way of Using Post-It Notes

To make this assignment more UDL-friendly, I would provide students with three ways of responding. 
  • They can type their responses
  • They can upload a picture for their responses
  • They could share a link with their response recorded in AudioBoo or create a video on YouTube and post the URL of their recording. 
Want to see a sample board? Check this out!



Management Made Easy:

With just a click of a button, you can easily organize and use use collected information. Teachers can view student responses in a grid, newsfeed, or randomly spread format. Are you concerned about privacy? You can set your board as private, require a password, or set it as read-only. Have a response you don't like? You can delete it!

There are multiple ways of sharing it with students. Create your own custom URL, share it through a QR Code, use social media, or embed it in your website. Data collection is even easy! After students are finished with their responses, you can set your board to read-only, export as a PDF or Excel!


Why is this Important?

Everything that I just showed you can be completed by students in less than 5 minutes. Why not try it? 

We know that when students have options for demonstrating their knowledge, they are more likely to connect with and understand material. The easier you make it for them to demonstrate their knowledge, the more learning and engagement that takes place. 

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