Google a topic you want to study and the results you will get are innumerable. With so much information available it is obvious to have multiple sources to refer to. However, with so many resources it is natural for anyone to lose a track of the resources you wanted to check in the first place. The conventional way would be to hit the star and bookmark your selected pages and visit them when need be.
There are multiple bookmarking tools available that you can use to simplify and organize your content curation. A similar tool but with vivid features that will change your game is Wakelet. This platform allows you to create your content directory where you can save multiple resources in varied formats and make a collection that can be further shared, collaborated upon, downloaded, and more!
The platform vouches to be a content curation platform that allows users to save, organize, present, and share all kinds of online content into visual, engaging collections. It supports independent learning, group-based learning, creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and digital citizenship.
The platform can benefit students and educators alike by allowing them to curate a collection of resources they can refer to or share for easy access to content. Users can simply copy any content on the web and cumulate it into a collection. This collection of resources can further be embedded or shared with students allowing them to experience multiple pieces of mixed media all in one place. Anything can be added to a Wakelet collection; videos, social media, podcasts, articles, presentations, online documents, PDF’s, images, your text, and much more!
Pain Points / Needs: Bookmarking; Classroom Management; Curation; Educational Search; How-To Guides; Lesson Plans; Mind Mapping; Newsletters; Note Taking; Portfolio Creators; Professional Development; School & University Info; Search; Student Assessments; Study Groups; Teacher Collaboration; To-Do Lists; Web Browsers
Platforms and Compatibility:
- The tool is compatible with iOS & Android devices, and web-based platform.
- Web application for iOS and Android devices are available.
- Browser extensions for Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Mozilla firefox.
Pricing Model:
The tool is completely free to use. There are no adverts or any hidden fees. It comes with no limitations; you can create as many collections as you like, add as much content as you wish and invite whoever you want to (parents, students, colleagues, friends, etc.)
Usability:
As a teacher, you can use Wakelet to share handpicked learning resources with your students, create classroom newsletters for parents, set digital assignments, create lesson plans, and more. You are free to use any kind of content you want, like YouTube videos, drive files, PDFs, infographics, social media posts, podcasts, and practically anything else you find online!
To see how the platform performs, I tried the platform to check the usability for an educator. The following walkthrough will help you get a better understanding of the tool.
1. Sign Up and create your profile as an educator.
Sign up on the platform. While creating your profile, select the “educator” category. This is followed by available categories of grade-level you’re teaching to. You can pick from the options as follows:
- Pre-K (ages 3-4)
- Elementary (ages 5-10)
- Middle school (ages 11-13)
- High school (ages 14-18)
- University/College
- Librarian Principal
- Special Education
- Technology/Instructional Coach
