Review by Amanda Bindel, Common Sense Education | Updated February 2013
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Popplet

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A compact, simple organizational tool for minimalist presentation

Subjects & skills
Subjects
N/A
Skills
  • Communication & Collaboration
  • Creativity
  • Character & SEL
Grades This grade range is a recommendation by Common Sense Education and not the developer/publisher.
1–12
Great for:
Common Sense says (See details)
Teachers say (21 Reviews)
Price:  Free, Paid Subscription pricing ranges from $0.50 per student per year (over 1000 students) to $2.00 per student per year (up to 50 students).
Platforms:  Website

Take a look inside

1 video | 5 images
How to Encourage Active Viewing with Popplet
Educator Video
2:07
Make a new popplet by clicking the button, then name it and pick a background color.
A step-by-step tutorial walks kids through the process of making a popplet. The question mark button in the upper right corner brings back this tutorial.
An example of a completed popplet with text, photograph, drawing, and YouTube video
The presentation feature allows users to determine the order of the zoom-in presentation style.
This option lets kids share popplets on Facebook or Twitter, embed them in a blog or website, copy and paste a link into an email, or email them to friends.

Pros: User-friendly format lets students focus on presentation content instead of dealing with a complicated interface.

Cons: Editing capability is almost non-existent; students can't revise drawings or move photographs.

Bottom Line: Great web-based presentation tool for beginners.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Popplet is entirely appropriate for elementary to high school students or for situations requiring a minimalist approach to presentations. For some high school-level presentations, however, students may need more detail offered by other tools. You might ask students to showcase their knowledge of a given topic via a popplet instead of a written report. For example, on a mammal unit, you could have each student choose an animal to present, include pictures and informational text, and even post a video.

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Put this tool into practice:
Standards:

Popplet is a click-and-drag platform that facilitates easy organization of information, pictures, and drawings. It gives students a quick way to organize information, color-code topics, type in data, and add comments. Images can be added from Flickr, Facebook, or your computer. Kids can also add content from Google maps and videos from YouTube directly. Students can add collaborators via email invitation and share their popplets in a variety of outlets, including Twitter and Facebook and through embed codes for blogs or websites. A particular strength of this website is its ease of use and intuitive design. Students can easily craft presentations that include color, images, videos, and text. Once they're finished, clicking on presentation mode allows students to select the order in which the presentation will zoom into each popplet.

Creating an account is easy; although it does require an email address, no activation email or link is required. Once they're on the site, a short tutorial walks kids through the creation of their first popplet. Each student must create his or her own account, as there's no class feature. Students can create up to five popplets each with the free version, share their popplets with others through the Add Collaborator button, or publish their popplets online in several venues. Collaborators can comment on or add to the popplet itself. The cog wheel icon has a drop-down list with most features, such as timewarp, permissions, and the option to export as JPEG or PDF. The presentation mode is found here as well, allowing the presenter to determine the order in which to zoom into each popplet.

Popplet is great for organizing data, but there are a couple of funky quirks. While Popplet allows editing of text, it doesn't allow editing, moving, or erasing of drawings, beyond clearing the entire drawing. Neither does it allow movement of imported images; once the image is in place, there it remains. There's no spelling checker for text or way to insert text in different locations, such as at the top of an image. However, the overall package provides a compact, straightforward presentation tool.

Overall Rating
Engagement Is the product stimulating, entertaining, and engrossing? Will kids want to return?

Students will find this an easy and engaging way of putting together a class presentation, especially since they can add video, images, and comments. Collaboration is also possible.

Pedagogy Is learning content seamlessly baked-in, and do kids build conceptual understanding? Is the product adaptable and empowering? Will skills transfer?

While revision isn't supported (e.g., spell-check or editing), students create presentations, organize information, and add content. Sharing and collaboration features allow for cooperative learning and social networking.

Support Does the product take into account learners of varying abilities, skill levels, and learning styles? Does it address both struggling and advanced students?

This isn't a complex site. The tutorial is extremely easy and user-friendly, and the settings icon leads to more information about the site; minimal troubleshooting is needed.

Common Sense Reviewer
Amanda Bindel Classroom teacher
About our ratings and privacy evaluation.

Key Standards Supported

Writing

  • W.1.6

    With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.

  • W.2.6

    With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.

  • W.3.6

    With guidance and support from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing (using keyboarding skills) as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

  • W.4.6

    With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of one page in a single sitting.

  • W.5.6

    With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting.

  • W.6.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of three pages in a single sitting.

  • W.7.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.

  • W.8.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

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Teacher Reviews

(See all 21 reviews) (21 reviews) Write a review
Featured review by
Jim V. , Classroom teacher
Classroom teacher
Marshall Elementary School
Wexford, PA
Visually Capture and Organize Ideas!
Overall, this is a great free app to make deep connections to larger topics. Students are able to be creative with the app and use its features to further their understanding of a topic. After students finish creating a Popplet, they are able to export their work so they can print or view it later. I love that this app is easy to use and functions across all grade levels. It is also nice because it can use used on a tablet or a computer. I definitely recommend this app!
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