Since I talked recently about Adobe Voice, I wanted to follow up with a post about another awesome, free program by Adobe (that is VERY new) called Slate. The best part of Slate is that it's now available on BOTH iPads AND on computers. It works well using either device, but it's nice to have the versatility to work with either one.

Slate functions as a photo slide show with lots of options for text and images. You can easily upload photos from your desktop, or you can use the photos that Adobe provides within the site through Creative Commons. The projects are easy to create and develop, but the finished product is so polished and professional! It looks great with minimal time invested and maximum results.

To get started, you'll need to sign in on the iPad or computer using your Adobe ID, or you can create one if you haven't used Adobe yet. (The same ID works for Slate and Voice, and you can let your students all login using an ID that you create.)  Then, you'll "Create a New Story" to make a Slate project. 

As I've mentioned before with using any new technology program, it's important to just play around with the program to get a feel for how it works. Don't worry about getting it right or making a perfect project the first time. You can just jump right in to see how the basics go. Slate is a pretty simple program--I usually give students a 5-10 minute overview and then let them get started.

The most important element of Slate is the PLUS button that lets you keep building your Slate. When you open a new project, the top slide is your title slide. The top slide just requires an image--if you don't want a title or subtitle, you can leave those blank, and the text will not show up in the finished product. You can change the focal point of the photo once you add one.

​The basic PLUS button has the following options:  

With the single image option, you'll get a second pop-up that lets you select how you'd like the image to appear on the Slate. The image can be in-line (with margins on both sides), or you can fill the screen with the image, choose a "window" options where the Slate lays on top of the image, or you can choose full width, which gets rid of the margins. The "window" option and the "fill screen" option both allow for captions on top of the image. 

Once you've gotten your images and text together, there are many theme options that allow you to customize your Slate even further, and the text options allow you to create various kinds of headings as well as other types of text. Your Slate will be easy to share through a link, or you can embed the Slate in a website. 

In short, Slate is an amazing program that both you and your students can enjoy using. I've seen quite a few impressive student creations so far, and I know some teachers are using Slate to share their content with their students. I often recommend Padlet as a great way to post the Slate (or Voice) projects for other students as well as the teacher to see.

I've discovered so many awesome platforms and programs lately, but one that I knew before I started this position but did not fully appreciate is Padlet. I'm loving Padlet more and more as time passes, and I find that I have many occasions where it is the simple answer to what can sometimes be a difficult problem of sharing work with the teacher and classmates. This is a relatively simple site that has so many versatile ways it can be used in the classroom. A couple of weeks ago, I helped a middle school math teacher use it to post students' work. They had created similes to explain the math properties they were studying, and they chose images to complement their similes. Their Padlet can be seen below. I've also worked recently with a senior AP Literature class, who will be using the site to post the Adobe Voice and Adobe Slate projects they make in their groups. It's just a great way to quickly and easily share information with a class or a larger audience.

To use Padlet, you'll simply create an account (the students DO NOT need to do this--another plus in the ease of use category). You can log in using Google to simplify the process. Then, to get started, you'll just choose "New Padlet" on the top right as you see in the image here. Then, you can use the toolbar on the right side of your screen that you'll use to navigate the Padlet (which you can see on the similes Padlet below). The toolbar gives you lots of control over the padlet that you've created. The gear at the bottom of that toolbar opens up another bar with many interesting features. You can change the background, change the name of the link, give a title and a description, and change the layout of the posts. (As a side note, I often change to the grid view (as shown below) or stream view instead of leaving the layout as freeform. The freeform layout looks neat but can sometimes cause students to have work hidden under the posts of other students.)

Once you've created your Padlet wall, you can share it with students using a URL or a QR code. That's how students will access the Padlet to add their responses. All that they need to do is click on the Padlet. They need to post their name and then their responses in the box that opens. (Do make sure that they put their names in their posts--since they don't have to log in, they need to put their names to receive credit.) They can upload lots of different types of files to the Padlet wall (including audio and video files). There are lots of different options with the plus button, but the button is all the same (which is important to note if using iPads--they don't need to click on the camera specifically, for example. They can just click anywhere in the plus/ upload area, and it will automatically enable them to upload whatever file they need. 

Overall, Padlet is a great, easy tech option to add to your toolkit. It does have an app if you'd like to use it, but it's also fine to just use it on your browser even with iPads.  You can use it for discussions, research, collaboration, or as a space to share projects. Enjoy!