Curation App Wakelet in the Classroom: A Powerful Tool

Reasearching Jazz With Wakelet

You want your students to research a certain topic. But, putting students in front of a computer and asking them to do research can be a daunting task in itself. Students can get miles off task when presented with the web and asked to scour it for information. That’s where Wakelet comes in. Wakelet is a content curation tool that allows the user to save everything from web links, images, tweets, and written notes. I like to think of it as a cross between Dropbox and Pocket.

Wakelet is easy to use. The teacher simply creates a collection and shares it with their students. The teacher can save documents and websites for the students in a Wakelet collection, and ask them to use those particular documents and and links for their research. There are many other uses for Wakelet in the classroom:

1. Student Portfolios: Wakelet is an easy way to create student portfolios. Students can create their own collections in which they’ll save their work — instant portfolio of class work!
2. Curate Material for Students: As I mentioned, the teacher can curate materials for students. If the students are researching a certain topic, the teacher can assist in the research by providing helpful links and documents.
3. A Repository for Student Research: Students can create their own collection in which they save their research. They can save images, web links, and written notes.
4. Peer Review: A student can share their work through Wakelet by making the collection public. Then, students can access other students work in which they can peer the work.
5. Exit Ticket or Class Warmup Questions: The teacher can use Wakelet as a repository for warm-up questions. In planning ahead, the teachers can upload exit tickets or warm-up questions for the week and direct the student to that collection, asking students to address the appropriate warm-up or exit ticket.