Alright, I must admit to you a little organizational secret that I use. I love Wakelet! If I were to boil this tool down to a brief description, I would say it is like Pinterest, but better. A statement like that might not mean much to you and does no justice to the power of this tool, so let me elaborate.

What is Wakelet?

Wakelet is bookmark manager that allows you to organize your bookmarks and take notes on them as you add them. So often when you make a traditional bookmark you tend to not remember why you saved it. With Wakelet, not only do you get images to go with the saved links but you can take notes on why you saved that bookmark.  Wakelet allows you to save articles, videos, images, and social media posts to a page. Curation is key and you truly get to do that.

Ways That Educators Use Wakelet

When it comes to using Wakelet as an educator there are a few ways that immediately jump out to me as ways to use it.

• Organization
  • As a teacher you have a lot of bookmarks, and this would allow you to create collections that you can share with your students and other educators.
• WebQuests
  • Back in 1995 WebQuests were all the rage in the classroom. (I think I did at least one every year from 1995 to 2001. My teachers loved using them.) For those not familiar with WebQuests, a WebQuest is a way of gathering primary and secondary sources through the web to use for a project. They generally have six parts to them: Introduction, Task, Process, Evaluation, Conclusion, & Credits. Students can use the Wakelet for each of the tasks within a WebQuest.
• Collaborate With Content
  • When it comes to sharing resources, Wakelet can help with that too. It’s a great way to visually see content that you are sharing, and you can even add both to the Wakelet since you are of course collaborating.
• Digital Archive/Portfolio
  • Students have the ability to share or archive their best work and allow them to make notes on each item they add. There is a little rumor I’ve heard that the Portfolio feature will have a direct connection to Linkedin.
• Research Organization
  • Your students create Wakelets to organize projects and/or use the tool for the rough draft. When students can adding all sorts of content, a bibliography is being created that could be added to their final product.

Layout and Functions

Inside of Wakelet there are several different tools available. Starting from the top of the left side panel:

• Search: Type in anything and search the entire Wakelet world to see if there is anything that can be used, or collections that you might like to bookmark.
• Explore: Instead of searching, just randomly explore the Wakelet world.
• Bookmarks: Save bookmarks from other collections that you find useful.
• Collections: Generally, the landing page when signing into Wakelet.
• Shared with Me: Any collections that have been shared with you.
• Classroom: As a teacher, set up your own classroom and give your students the ability to create and use Wakelet.
• Spaces: Add collections that can be private or public. Public spaces allow for collaboration. It’s also another way to organize your collections too.

Resources

Wakelet has several great resources. I know I find inspiration from their blog all the time. They also have a very active Twitter (I know probably not your favorite way to get information) and a community site where educators worldwide give a lot of great inspiration. I am not an ambassador yet but if you’re interested, but they have a program for that too! The best way to really learn about this tool is to go through the Wakelet Certified Course.