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. Simply navigate to a Blackboard course and open the Content Market. From here, you can choose ‘Padlet’, this action creates your account and you will need to sign-in with Microsoft (e.g. your IT username such as md916166@reading.ac.uk).
2. How to access your account
There are two options:
option 1: Open a Blackboard course and select Padlet from the Content Market, or
option 2: Visit padlet.com/universityofreading and sign-in with Microsoft.
3. How to make a padlet
Once you have activated your ‘Teacher’ licence, you can begin making 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 the options and suggested learning activities for each format.
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.
- Table: Arrange fields into structured tables. This format will create a board in a table-like layout where each post you publish will create a row and each field within that post creates a column.
- Map: posts can be pinned to any location on a map background.
- Freeform: 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).
- *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
Before sharing your padlet, open it and choose either the ‘Secret’ or ‘School only’ share setting. The difference is described below, ‘5. What are the options for controlling access to a padlet?‘
When sharing padlets in the classroom, you may ask students to navigate to Blackboard to open the padlet (see below, 4. How to share padlets via Blackboard Ultra’) or alternatively, you can display the QR code on a PowerPoint slide (for students to scan with their mobile device). If you are using the ‘School-only’ share setting, students may need to sign-in with Microsoft, so 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 browser window, to display to the class (presently it is not possible to embed padlets into a PowerPoint).
4. How to add padlets to Blackboard
Please be aware you will need to refresh your course to view padlets added via Content Market.
There are two options for sharing padlets via Blackboard:
Option 1 – as a link (e.g. via a content folder):
- Locate your Blackboard course and open the folder you wish to populate,
- Click the purple ‘create’ button and select Content Market from the dropdown list.
- From the dropdown list, select Content Market and choose Padlet
- This action opens a window displaying your ‘Recent’ padlets, choose from the list or select ‘Make’ to create a new one. If you cannot see your padlet in the list, refresh the page or reopen the Content Market.
- Once you have selected your padlet, close the Content Market window to return to the course.
- The padlet will be added to your course folder as a link. You can edit the display title and description.
Option 2 – as an embedded item (e.g. via an Ultra Document):
- Create an Ultra Document or open an existing one
- Select ‘Add Content’ and open the Content Market (click the plus button in the Blackboard Ultra Editor toolbar).
- From the Content Market, choose Padlet
- This action opens a window displaying your ‘Recent’ padlets, choose from the list or select ‘Make’ to create a new one. If you cannot see your padlet in the list, refresh the page or reopen the Content Market.
- Once you have selected your padlet, close the Content Market window to return to the Ultra Document.
- The padlet will display as an embedded item.
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 via Blackboard, Outlook, Office 365 etc..). Using the ‘School only’ share 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). The first time you use this setting with students, they must visit Blackboard to join a padlet in your course (the padlet must have been added via Content Market). This action will onboard them into the university Padlet license. |
| ‘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 where accurate author attribution is not a concern. 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 June 30, 2025