The interface is free to use for up to four pads (which seems like quite a reasonable number). Beside blank pads, there are also a number of interesting templates (these are part of the 'four-pad quota').

Some confusing bugs on trying to share the link for assessment but fixed once the pad was set to 'public'.

Aesthetics in relation to use

The blank pad here, on Padlet, suggests that it will be a usefully 'open' interface, as, for now, the screen is taken up by a blank space (which may suggest freedom or future work and creativity). Similarly, the search bar is a simple but handy part of the pad, and also suggests that so much work can be done on one of the latter that finding things will require not only scrolling through the page, but also some additional typing.

Some components are placed vertically on the right-hand side of the page. These are not distracting as that part of the screen is unlikely to be where the eyes of people who read most often from left to right will rest.

Use in class

It is arguable that Padlet is a tool which will not require excessive amounts of task adaptation to fit a specific format, on the part of a teacher who would wish to use it in class.

The ability given to Padlet users to post various types of documents, including scans, is useful. On the other hand, the ability to freely gather links here can be problematic, so that rules or guidelines may have to be given students by a teacher who chooses to use this tool. The last point is not specific to this platform, as a blog, for example, would present the same problem.

This comic-making tool has limited features and encourages concision. There is an interesting range of elements to pick from, though, and the small space really would work to use over a couple of classes (more than two hours on a single strip would be excessive...). Birdsdessines is free to use and does not absolutely require users to have an account to download the file, which is an advantage over Storyboardthat.

The comic above could be used in class as students may not often encounter these specific idioms and turns of phrase (see esp. panel 2). It might be interesting, to some extent, to expose students to idioms and to these in particular, then. But it is more so contradiction/absurdity encapsulated in the brief space offered of fictional dialogue as a tool that would be valuable to teach students to reflect on. Birdsdessines could also be used by/with collège students but not the above comic (or something like it, with different phrases), which could be employed at lycée level.

I typed the name of a specific (small, less documented in photography online) city in Switzerland with specific types of birds into the image generation tool. It is a useful tool for creating improbable or totally impossible scenarios (see below for more on this). And so it seems pointless to debate the accuracy of the result here. The main drawback seems to be the ease with which ecological pollution can be generated using current AI technology. It seems urgent to avoid creating additional waste when that is possible...

The background removal tool was easy to use. It can be used to juxtapose, or embed parts of open access images (downloaded from unsplash dot com for example) to gradually create the desired image, however strange or impossible. This tool is likely to be useful for pedagogical purposes.

Images were pasted before and after. A relevant piece of music was added to play throughout. I used Open shot on campus and Canva later on to cut the clip down to 43 seconds (it was slightly longer). I would use these tools again.

I love this! Specifically the ability to juxtapose sound, video and different kinds of images. I would use Open shot for class for sure! I like the idea of setting down some habits with a group of students, like opening every new chapter with a montage. It would be a nice final task, too. Depending on the video(s) and other files used, it would allow for lots of space to experiment and be creative if one is so inclined. I would opt for individual work (rather than group work) for this specific task and the cognitive work that it opens up (the same would be true in most cases, I think, for a mind map task, where students seem to like discussing ideas together but end up working individually). Montage and collage tasks can really show a teacher what all the chapter's work looks like from students' perspectives. There are right answers but, unless a student veers too far off topic, there are probably no wrong answers.

An interesting aspect of making digital data visualisations is seeing how much choosing aspects of the visual production can direct reading. It is a similar frame of mind to choosing how to respond to a question from a student: trying to convey ideas whilst keeping in mind not only that data presentation is key, but also that compromises on, or manipulations of scientific accuracy are often necessary to respond in a reasonably satisfying way.

This fake chat tool might let a teacher help students think of plays and literature more generally as language able to be 'brought back to life', created collectively centuries ago and today by various actors' embodiment (see 'conversation' above) and by the author alone (see 'inner dialogue' above)... But Shakespeare is sometimes taught as early as the 3ème grade (which is the last collège year), where this tool may be funny but not as useful as it could be in, e.g., Terminale, for example, where it might be fun and interesting, too.

In addition to doing the quiz together in class, each student would be required to write a sentence or two (or more) at every choice of image, text, sound, or video they make. They would be expected either to justify this or argue for a different association than the 'correct' one (meaning, the one I entered into a learningapps quiz).

Perhaps with some good preparation, a quiz like this one might be used, then, less as an evaluative tool than as a teaching tool. More generally, Learningapps was easy and free to use. As mentioned above, the linked quiz was made in less than ten minutes. While it may not be a particularly good example of all that can be done on Learningapps, it does demonstrate that a teaching tool can be generated with minimal time and even without preparation (keeping in mind that there will most likely be at least a little more than ten minutes to prepare for teaching a class most of the time).