Privacy
Please be aware of the following privacy advice when using Padlet:
- Do not use Padlet to collect, store or share copyrighted or personal data. If you are unsure about your padlet content, seek guidance from IMPs.
-
When using the university licence, the most secure privacy setting is ‘Org only’, meaning that only users who have activated their university padlet account can access the padlet. This will ensure accurate post attribution and keeps the padlet content within the university platform. Before using the ‘Org only’ setting, you must ask your students to click their Padlet account activation link on the Blackboard homepage. If they have not done this, they will get a ‘no access’ message when trying to open the padlet.
- The default privacy setting, for the university licence, is ‘Secret’. This means anyone with the link can access the padlet and make posts, without activating their university padlet license. ‘Secret’ links can be shared externally or between students, and therefore they are not secure in regard to user access.
- For further details on how Padlet handles your data, please refer to the Padlet privacy policy.
Data retention: Assessment and video content
You are responsible for the management of data within Padlet and must be aware of user risks, as Padlet is not subject to the university data retention policy. This may impact on your use of the platform, for example,
- Data is not managed by the university therefore if the licence is revoked you will be responsible for extracting content you wish to keep.
- If you wish to use Padlet for assessment purposes, you cannot ask students to submit a live padlet board, instead, you must ask students to export their board as .pdf for upload to Turnitin or Blackboard Assignment submission point.
- If you wish to use video content within a padlet, do not upload video files to the platform. Instead, link directly to the source (e.g. YouTube) or if working with a hardcopy, upload to YuJa and copy the sharing link or embed code (to insert within a padlet post). It is possible to record directly into a padlet, this is suitable for quick, vox-pop style activities but not creation of personal capture (e.g. screencast) recordings: all essential T&L video content must be uploaded to YuJa, in line with the university learning capture policy.
- If you wish to record video or audio directly into a padlet, or require students to do so, you must use the Org Only share setting.
Accessibility
All teaching resources must be aligned to university guidance regarding digital accessibility. Therefore, as a minimum, please follow these tips to create padlets that are digitally accessible. If a student experiences digitally accessibility issues when using Padlet, raise a service desk ticket for advice about improving digital accessibility and/or seek advice from DAS about alternative arrangements.
Moderation of padlets
Moderation of padlets, as with any of your teaching materials and activities, is your responsibility. To assist you, there is a default ‘Auto’ post moderation setting that will flag unacceptable content detected by Padlet’s own monitoring system, ‘Safety Net’. It is recommended to leave this default setting enabled, to help prevent misuse of your padlet, and to ‘freeze’ your padlet once the teaching activity has ended.
‘Auto’ moderation is only an aid, it will not automatically block everything related to potentially inappropriate subjects, for example, it will not block any mention of drugs but it will block text that explicitly promotes, advertises, or encourages drug use.
If a post is flagged as inappropriate by ‘Auto’ moderation, it will be blocked and you will receive a notification via email to inform you that the post needs to be approved or rejected. For some subject matter, you might wish to switch post moderation to ‘Manual’ or ‘None’. For more information about content moderation, available settings and the languages detected, see Padlet guidance: Content Moderation
Guide last updated on January 25, 2023
