What is Wakelet?
Wakelet is a site where you can find, organize and share content. Using Wakelet, you can organize content into Collections. You can then share these collections either on social media (facebook, twitter, reddit), Google Classroom, or just by simply sharing the link. You can also simply share the link to your profile where people visiting your profile will be able to see any collection you have set to public. We will get into collections here in a minute. You can also find other Wakelet users and follow them to always stay up to date on the collections they are creating.How to Create Collections and Customize Them
So depending on what platform you are one, creating a collection is a little different but really easy. If you are using the desktop version, once you long in, to create a collection all you have to do is simply click the green plus button that says “create a new collection”.
From there, you can give your collection a title and a description. You can also customize your collection by adding a cover image to your collection. Something that I do is I make custom collection headers with my Bitmoji to add a little personalization.
On mobile, when you open the app there is a green button at the bottom that is labeled “create collection”.
How to Add Content to Collections
So you have your collection made, personalized your header, and now are ready to add content. To add content to your collection, when using the desktop version, simply click on the green plus sign to add content. When you click the green plus button, you get the options to add either a URL, text, a video from YouTube, Tweets, an image a PDF, a file from your Google Drive, or a video from Flipgrid.
On mobile, you get a green button labeled “add an item”. After clicking on that, you get the option to either add a link, write a note, add an image, add from twitter, or add from bookmarks in Wakelet.
Also, on iOS you can add to a Wakelet collection via the share sheet. For example, you can be on a website, click the share button which is located at the bottom. It is the icon that looks like a box with an arrow pointing up. When you click on the share button, choose Wakelet. After that, you can see all of your collections and add the website link to the collection you want.
Once you have all the resources added to your collection, you can set the collection’s visibility to either public where everyone can see the collection, unlisted where only people with the link to the collection can see it, and private where only you can see it.
Uses in the Classroom
So there are tons of ways you could use Wakelet in the classroom. Currently, the way I am using Wakelet as an Ed Tech Coordinator is as a way to share information and gather resources for teachers. Currently, I have collections based around using Twitter as an educator, Digital Citizenship resources broken down by grade level spans, Amplifying Student Voice, EduProtocols Resources, and much more. Check out my collections at https://wakelet.com/@MarshallBeyer.I usually put a collection together and then share it a few ways. One way I share is through Twitter. I will tweet out links to a specific collection. Another way I share my collections is through my work email signature. I have a link in my signature that goes straight to my Wakelet profile page. Matt Miller from Ditch that Textbook wrote a nice blog post on 12 Ways to Use Wakelet in the Classroom. In that post, he talks about ways students could use wakelet. Everything from creating a collection to use as a work portfolio to novel studies. He also talks about how teachers could use it for professional development. For example, creating podcast playlists or reflection collections.
