This guide takes you through the step by step process to access and use your university Padlet account. The institutional Padlet licence is for Teaching and Learning at the University of Reading; allowing you to make, configure and securely share an unlimited number of padlets with your students.
1. Activate your institutional Padlet licence
To start using the institutional Padlet licence, you will need to activate your ‘Teacher’ account via the Blackboard homepage. You must choose sign-in with Microsoft (e.g. your IT username such as md916166@reading.ac.uk).
This 2 minute video takes you through the onboarding screens and options.
2. How to make a padlet
Once you have activated your ‘Teacher’ licence, login to Padlet.com to make padlets.
Depending on your learning activity, there may be a particular padlet format well suited to the task you have designed. Use this video to see what the options look like and what types of learning activity they are useful for.
Here is a summary (and examples) of the format options:
- Wall: posts will be compactly arranged into a “brick-like” layout.
- Grid: creates uniform spacing between each post.
- Stream: posts arranged in a top-to-bottom feed.
- Timeline: posts appear along a horizontal line.
- Map: posts can be pinned to any location on a map background.
- Canvas: posts can be positioned freeform anywhere on the board; they can be resized, connected with lines and labelled.
- Columns: turning on Sections allows you to add column headings (to a Wall or Grid) or row headings (to a Timeline).
- New* Sandbox: this format is like a collaborative whiteboard, great for mind mapping, post-it note activities, etc. More info: What is Sandbox?
3. How to share padlets during scheduled sessions
When you are ready to share your padlet with students, display the QR code (for students to scan) or share link (for students to click). Students need to sign in with Microsoft the first time they join a university padlet, ensure you make them aware and allow time for this.
Typically, once students have posted on the padlet, you will want to display the entire board for the whole class to see. You can open the padlet in a new browser window, to display to the class (presently it is not possible to embed padlets into a PowerPoint).
4. How to share padlets via Blackboard Ultra
Padlet is well suited for engaging students outside of scheduled teaching via Blackboard, for example it can be used for preparation/consolidation tasks, module FAQS, online community building, coursework and more..
Indeed, where possible you should share classroom padlets to Blackboard; as this allows students to have advanced access or easily review classroom learning activities, during their self-scheduled or independent study.
To share your padlet via Blackboard,
- Open the padlet,
- Go to the padlet’s share settings (top right of the board),
- Select ‘Copy link to board‘ to get a hyperlink,
- Paste the hyperlink into Blackboard.
Note: It is not yet possible to embed ‘School-only’ padlets, this function will be available in the future, when Padlet have a Blackboard integration ready.
5. What are the options for controlling access to a padlet?
Depending on your planned learning activity, you may find the following options useful to control access:
| Setting | What does it allow? |
| ‘School only’ visitor permission | This is the preferred and recommended way to share padlets with students. This default share setting requires students to authenticate before viewing padlets (if their device browser is not already logged into a university service, for example Blackboard, Outlook, Office 365 etc..), or students may need to activate their university padlet account if it is their first time accessing a university padlet. This setting prevents padlets from being linked externally and ensures posts are attributed with student usernames (if an anonymous board is required you can toggle ‘Show/Hide’ names). |
| ‘Secret’ visitor permission | This setting means anyone with the padlet link (including those external to the University) can access the board and make posts. ‘Secret’ padlets have the benefit that they can be shared externally in ad hoc scenarios where this may be needed, however, as they present risks in terms of governing who can access university Padlets, this setting should only be used by exception and with good reason. For example, students can access these padlets without activating their own university Padlet licence, meaning it is not possible to accurately attribute their posts or prevent students linking the padlet content to external platforms. |
| ‘Collaborator’ email invitations | If you wish to give specific padlet roles to other staff or select students, send them a ‘Collaborator’ invite. The recipient receives an email containing a joining link, which will open the board and assign the specific padlet role you have chosen. Collaborator invites can only be sent to other university padlet account holders, and cannot be passed between users within the university or externally (the link will only work for the invited user account). This is useful if you want another member of staff, or specific students, to moderate posts or co-own the padlet. |
| ‘No Access’ visitor permission | If you previously shared a ‘School-only’ or ‘Secret’ joining link, and no longer wish to grant access, then set the padlet to ‘No Access’. If you specifically invited some users as ‘Collaborators’, they will retain access to the board until you individually remove them. |
| ‘Freeze’ padlet board | This setting prevents further interaction with the padlet (for example, posting and commenting), but allows students to continue viewing the padlet. This setting is useful when you no longer want to monitor the padlet i.e. the activity has finished but you wish students to retain viewing access without making further posts, comments, reactions etc. You can set a future date to freeze your padlet using ‘Automations‘. |
| ‘Submission‘ link | A submission request allows anyone with the link to post to a board without first visiting the board. This feature is especially helpful to prevent students from seeing others’ posts before submitting their own. This link respects the ‘School-only’ share setting; requiring user authentication before granting access. |
| ‘Auto-Remake‘ link | Auto-remake links allow anyone who clicks on your padlet link to automatically create a duplicate of the padlet in their own account, for editing. This is extremely useful for teachers who want students to work on their own version of a padlet; you can easily view each remade padlet via a list, each student copy can be quickly accessed from your original padlet. The ‘Auto-Remake’ link respects the ‘School-only’ share setting; requiring user authentication before granting access. |
| ‘Breakout‘ link | If you want students to collaborate on a section of a padlet, without posting on the rest of the board, then send them a breakout link. This link respects the ‘School-only’ share setting; requiring user authentication before granting access. |
5. What next?
For more Padlet features and ideas for learning activities, see guidance ‘Using Padlet for Teaching‘.
Guide last updated on May 22, 2025