Link to the site: https://wakelet.com/
Introduction and context In this month's post I'm taking another look at Wakelet, it has been around for a couple of years now during this time it has evolved with ever greater functionality and maneuvered itself into a prime position as the go-to site for creating and organising content. As I have mentioned in numerous blog posts previously one of the key digital skills that both teachers and students need is that of curation. With such a wealth of material available online it is important they know how to find and organise the most appropriate content for the topic they are focusing on, I believe the reason for Wakelet’s success is its ease of use, adding content to collections couldn't be easier, you simply click on the green + and choose from the wealth of different types of resource you wish to add. With Covid-19 still impacting many educators globally the need for a space where they can curate and collaborate with peers and students is so important. I think the timing of this release from local it is perfect and provides you with that space where you can create collections. How does it work and what features does it have Here is my video guide:
In this post I'm focusing specifically on the new Spaces feature that's just been released. So what is Spaces. It takes all the features of Wakelet collections that you're familiar with but allows you to pull together multiple collections into one space. You create a Space by clicking on the + symbol under your profile image in the top left corner, having done this you are asked to add a title and an image. You can also join existing spaces by adding a join code. Having created your space you can click on the @ link under the title of your Space to customise its appearance, then click edit profile and you can change the header and profile image, add a bio, add section headings and organise your collections under specific section headings. It is easy to create collections and add them to your space, once in the Space where you wish to add the collection, click on the green + sign Create a new collection, add a title, cusotmise it appearance and start adding content. You do that by click on the green+ below the title you can add the following types of content.
To add collaborators, click on the members menu to the left of your Space, you can invite them by sending a link or giving them a code, this enables them to contribute to a collection or add to an existing collection but prevents them from deleting any content that's already there. Once you have finished populating your Space with various collections you can choose to share it directly with individuals via link or you can make it public so it's visible and searchable. Having finished editing your space you can share it via a link, a QR code or via various social media platforms. How could it be used As with the existing features of Wakelet I think there are multiple ways in which the new Spaces feature could be used. Here are just a few examples. Teachers could use it to curate the various resources linked to that week's lesson. This could be links to websites that students need to look at, or links various formative assessment activities that the students will be doing during the lesson thus speeding up their ability to access the activities The teacher could alter the visibility of the collections within the Space thus making the resources available to students week by week. Whilst still collaborating with colleagues and continuing to populate the different collections ahead of making them available. Teacher ask each student to research and curate specific content in preparation for a future lesson, with each student contributing a collection to the Space. It could be used by students to curate and organise work for different topics or for collaborating and curating research as part of a project based learning activity. I think it would also work really well as an eportfolio, allowing students to organise their work and demonstrate their skills. For my blog on Wakelet click here