Our new collaboration feature makes it easier than ever to invite people to join your Wakelet collections, as Misbah Gedal explains
Educators are always looking for fresh, new and effective ways to engage their students and each other. From the moment teachers and educators began using Wakelet, one of the most frequently asked questions has been: ‘Can I collaborate with students on the same collection?’
After listening to feedback and gathering suggestions, we began work on a powerful new collaboration feature. We are now very excited to announce it’s release! Wakelet Collaboration will help you bring the power of curation into your classroom like never before!
Working together
Content curation has traditionally been quite an individualistic pursuit, with people all over the world using Wakelet independently to create collections of content by themselves. We wanted to enhance that. We think that content curation can be enjoyed by groups of people all working on the same collection – something that becomes very powerful once you bring it into your classroom. When more than one person collaborates on the same topic, the content becomes richer and more diverse because everyone navigates and finds content on the web differently. Having a group of individuals working to the same goal always produces magic!
So how can you use the new Collaboration feature in your classroom, school or organisation? We’ve made it super easy to create a collection and then generate a unique code or link that people can use to add content to the collection without even needing to sign up. You just share this code or link with your class or colleagues, and in an instant everyone can add content to the collection – creating a “crowd-sourced” hub of ideas, opinions and resources.
A new way to engage your students
Teachers in particular will find the feature very useful. By inviting your class to contribute to a collection, you are not only teaching them the value of team-work, you’re also encouraging the exchange of ideas and opinions. Additionally, you’re challenging them to each discover content that the rest of their classmates haven’t found, helping them improve their critical thinking and digital research skills.
At the risk of sounding over-dramatic, this concept reminds me of one of my favourite quotes from George Bernard Shaw: ‘If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples, then you and I will still each have only one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.’
Endless possibilities
Aside from being used in the classroom, the new Collaboration feature offers a host of exciting new ways to use the platform. You can send Collaboration codes to your colleagues, friends and network – giving them the ability to seamlessly contribute any content on the web to your collection. This is perfect for collecting research, collaborating on group projects and creating lessons plans. On the lighter side of things, you now have the ability to create and contribute to group playlists, travel plans or even just brainstorming ideas.
The possibilities are endless – we can’t wait to see some of the innovative ways that our community decides to use the new feature, so get stuck in and take your Wakelet journey to the next level!
