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Application: Wallwisher

URL: http://www.wallwisher.com

Release date: April 2009

In a nutshell

Wallwisher is an informal tool that acts like a noticeboard for virtual post-it notes (“sticky notes” in Wallwisher’s parlance). Walls can be created quickly and shared using the “wall’s” URL.

How does it work?

Signing up for an account is optional but does give a few extra features which I’ll point out later.

After clicking “Create a Wall” the user enters a brief title and then an explanatory subtitle. There is not much room for detailed instructions for participants here but the user can get round that by simply adding an introductory sticky note. The user can further customize the wall by selecting a background colour and image.

More importantly, the user can determine the last part of the URL so a Wallwisher about TELIC might read:http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/telicreview (where the part of the URL in bold is created by the user). It is also possible to determine access to view and to post “stickies” (limited to “Everyone” and “Only Me”). Posts can be moderated if required.

Once the wall is active adding a sticky is as simple as double clicking. The participant is allowed a message of 160 characters (a little more than Twitter) but with the option to add links to other sites or other online media. If you follow the link above you will see some examples.

The benefits of creating an account are that it allows moderation of posts, automatically named posts (other wise they are “anonymous” unless changed by the participant) and a “dashboard” that allows quick access to all the “walls” created by the user. Other than that, functionality is largely the same. When you create a wall without signing in Wallwisher still asks for a name and email addrerss.

Applications for education?

The obvious application is for creating a space for discussion on any given topic. The lack of space in each individual post may be a handicap but the tool seems designed for simplicity rather than detail.

The tool could be user asynchronously or while all users are present (and have access to a web-enabled device). A few applications might include:

Starter activity on a new topic – post a question at the start of a lesson (or the night before) asking for a group’s current knowledge or views.

• Plenary activity – ask the group to post the most significant thing they have learnt over the course of a topic.
• Homework activity – add a link to a “wall” on the school’s VLE and students can easily access at home. The results can be referred to in class at a later date (see examples listed below)
• As part of a video conference – Useful as part of a “one to many” conference. Multiple delegates at one end of the link could post questions that the individual at the other could refer to as part of the activity.

I’ve included a few links to 2 “Walls” that were created by Sarah Brownsword, a primary teacher in Suffolk, for 2 Year 6 classes.

http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/6ageog

http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/6sgeog

They were part of a Geography topic “How are we connected” and Sarah asked her students to list 5 countries they were connected to in some way. The “walls” were then brought up on the interactive whiteboard and used as the starting point for discussion and partnering students up with ones they had a common link with.

Sarah’s blog post on the activity can be seen here - http://missbrownsword.blogspot.com/2009/11/using-wallwisher-for-homework.html

E-safety considerations

Any web2.0 that includes the facility to publish will carry some risk but Wallwisher poses no serious threat to students’ e-safety so long as standard precautions are taken (e.g. caution over using student’s images withindication of full name and school). Wallwisher provides no “gallery” of previous creations so the only way to access a wall is to go through the specific URL.

The fact that Anonymous posts are allowed does open up the risk of cyber-bullying of students. Possible solutions to this may be selecting the option to moderate “stickies” or the “wall” owner deleting the offending posts.

Personal thoughts

It’s a mark of a good tool that you can be up and running with it without an onerous learning process. The process is intuitive to someone with basic internet skills so should hold little fear for teachers or students.

The limitations of Wallwisher stem mainly from the fact that it is so simple. Some people might appreciate more options for adding longer comments or embedding other media but adding too many extra features would detract from the streamlined nature of the application.

The outcomes of using can be achieved by other tools including those hosted on VLE’s but the interface is a lot more informal and so may appeal to a wider range of users. There is of course nothing stopping a teacher or student providing a link to a “wall” from the VLE itself.

Although not a particularly exotic tool this has the potential to be embedded in the practice of a lot of educators and students.

Special thanks to Sarah Brownsword (@missbrownsword) for allowing me to reference her work.