E-journal “Pedagogical forum” ISSN: 1314-7986

Number 3, year 2023 DOI: 10.15547/PF....

DIGITAL TOOLS FOR COLLECTING AND PRESENTING

INFORMATION IN STUDENTS AND TEACHERS’ TRAINING

Ivelina Velcheva, Deyana Peykova

ABSTRACT

The present work is devoted to the presentation of various digital tools used for collecting and
presenting information. The main features of Padlet, Lino.it, Popplet, Book Creator are described and
ready-made examples are presented how to use each of them. Toolkits are suitable for implementation
in lessons in various subjects and teachers can work quickly and easy with them. They are used by
teachers who have passed a qualification course conducted by the authors of the publication at the
Department for Qualification and Professional Development of Pedagogical Specialists at University
of Plovdiv Paisii Hilendarski, Plovdiv. They have been tested with students from fifth to seventh grade
in Hristo Smirnenski Primary School, Rakovski.
Keywords: information technology, presenting information, innovative practices, teaching
students, Padlet, Popplet, Lino.it, Book Creator

INTRODUCTION

Modern information and communication technologies provide unlimited possibilities for

storing and presenting information. The presentation of the learning material by the pedagogical
specialists in an attractive and fascinating way attracts the interest of the students and keeps
their attention for a longer period of time. For this purpose, it is necessary for the teachers to
have the necessary knowledge, skills and competences related to the successful use of various
digital tools. They also must use them in their daily pedagogical practice. Many authors of
scientific publications (Hadzhikolev et al. 2021; Slavova & Garov 2019; Shopova et al. 2020;
Spirova et al. 2020; Gaydarova et al. 2020; Stavrev, 2019; Karadimitrova 2021, Kozhuharova
2022) also support the idea of implementing innovative approaches in the educational process,
that could improve the level of success of students by increasing their knowledge, skills and
competences.
The present work is dedicated to the presentation of various digital tools for collecting
and presenting information and describing their main functionalities. Padlet, Lino.it, Popplet,
BookCreator, WordArt are presented with ready-made examples including learning tasks. The
tools are suitable for implementation in the lessons of various subjects and teachers can work
very easily with them. The idea is the information to reach a larger circle of pedagogical
specialists and they can assess where it is appropriate to use the presented digital tools.
The tools are used in the preparation of teachers in a qualification course conducted by
the authors of the publication at the Department for Qualification and Professional
Development of Pedagogical Specialists at University of Plovdiv Paisii Hilendarski. The
presented teaching practices are based on the results of a two-year study of already trained
teachers who try them out daily in the learning process and notice their positive impact on
students. Teachers apply innovations daily, when the teaching material allows it and they could
implement it in an adequate and constructive way. The described innovative practices are
applied in teaching students from 5th to 7th grade in Hristo Smirnenski Primary school,
Rakovski.

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E-journal “Pedagogical forum” ISSN: 1314-7986
Number 3, year 2023 DOI: 10.15547/PF....

DIGITAL TOOLS FOR COLLECTING AND PRESENTING INFORMATION

Teaching practice shows that when teaching students, they often have to express their
opinion on a given topic or answer various questions as a discussion. In this discussion, the
participation of more active students is mainly observed. So that others can get involved and
present their point of view, there is an alternative option to collect their responses. Teachers
also need to present the learning material related to a given lesson in an innovative and different
way. This would help attract the interest of learners and increase their motivation to learn new
information. The learning material can be presented not only as a text but also by adding video
clips, images, different types of files, sticky notes, etc. For this purpose, there are digital tools
for collecting and providing information, which present the information on a virtual whiteboard,
a digital board, sticky notes or a digital book. The attached materials are in one centralized place
and some of the platforms provide an opportunity to work together (in their free version) after
sharing a specific link or access code.

PADLET

Padlet (https://padlet.com/) is a virtual whiteboard where materials can be attached. They

are available in one centralized place and are visualized as a digital dashboard with information.
It give opportunity to users to work together after sharing an access link. It is easy to use,
allowing the publication of text, images, links, videos and documents of various types on a
locked or open wall where all messages are visualized. The visualization of the information can
be presented in a different way, depending on the selection of the canvas layout option - wall
(pack content in a brick-like layout), grid (arrange content in rows of boxes), shelf (stack
content iin a series of columns), map (add content to points on a map), timeline (place content
along a horizontal line) and others. The free version allows up to five virtual whiteboards but
has the option to archive and unzip each one. When we have five boards and we archive one,
the boards now become four and space is freed up to create a new one. At any time, we can
archive another board and restore an already archived one in its place, using the unarchive
option. This allows multiple use of different virtual boards, without limitation, thanks to these
two options.

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E-journal “Pedagogical forum” ISSN: 1314-7986
Number 3, year 2023 DOI: 10.15547/PF....

Fig. 1. Padlet – Digital wall “Climate changes”

Example for digital walls developed with Padlet:

• Digital wall “Netiquette”: https://padlet.com/Deyana/s9k3nrvsjnngy1gu
• Digital wall “Climate changes”: https://padlet.com/Deyana/37r51d7d3f13 (Fig. 1)
• Digital wall “Cultural heritage”: https://padlet.com/Deyana/ig7hwj7yvgbo7g9c

LINO.IT

Lino.it (http://en.linoit.com/) is an interactive sticker board and the free version allows
you to create an unlimited number of boards. There is a maximum file size requirement that can
be attached to the board and that is up to 10 MB in size. Different options can be chosen for the
background of the board - a board in different colors; a board imitating cork or an image
attached from the computer. Sticky notes can be added in different colors to be made public or
sent to a specific student. Images, video clips, files of different types can also be added. The
interactive whiteboard can be for private use, and no one can see the canvas except you; the
second option is to be publicly accessible for viewing but without the right to post new stickers,
or be publicly accessible for viewing and adding new stickers by anyone who accesses the
board.

Fig. 2. Lino.it – “Discover European countries”

Example for digital walls developed with Lino.it:
• English language project “Discover European countries”:
http://linoit.com/users/Deyana/canvases/Europe (Fig. 2)
• English language project “Bulgarian Cultural Heritage”:
http://linoit.com/users/Deyana/canvases/Bulgarian%20culture%20heritage%20

POPPLET

A suitable method for generating new ideas in a short time, which can be implemented
in the process of student learning, is brainstorming. Generated ideas can be structured and
visually presented thanks to digital mind mapping tools. Popplet (https://www.popplet.com/) is
a platform that can be used for creating such a mind map. It is a learning aid used for note-
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E-journal “Pedagogical forum” ISSN: 1314-7986
Number 3, year 2023 DOI: 10.15547/PF....

taking, project planning, teamwork, solving a specific problem or organizing information. In

addition to the option to create a new mind map there are also ready-made templates that can
serve as an example for creating a new one. The free version allows for one mind map, but has
an option to export the map to a PDF file. Then the card can be deleted and a new one can be
created. There are options to add text, image, video clip as well as change the colour layout. It
is possible to work in a team by adding colaborators. The mind map can be public and private.
Example of mind map developed with Popplet:
• Mind map with STEM projects: https://app.popplet.com/#/p/6635236 (Fig. 3)

Fig. 3. Popplet – Mind map with STEM projects

BOOK CREATOR

Book Creator (https://bookcreator.com/) is a tool for creating a digital book. It enables the
creation of learning resources by teachers, as well as the performance of various tasks by
students. The opportunities that the tool provides include combining text and images, audio and
video. It enables the creation of interactive stories and comics, guides, different types of books,
including resume type, e-portfolio and more. The free version allows for the creation of 40
personal books, as well as a library of 40 books, so that the books of the students can be
included. This way, the information will be in one centralized place and all the books will be
located in the teacher's user profile. Each book has additional settings, some of them include
importing an already created book (pre-downloaded in ePub format), moving the book to
another library, copying a book or combining books (merging several books into one named
with a new name ). To work together with students, a library of books must be created in the
teacher's profile. Through an access code students can add their books.
Examples of digital books, developed with BookCreator:
• Digital book with a lesson related to the topic of project development:
https://read.bookcreator.com/4cqX3YR5WyQ0z7gycV0TrhmsW3a2/r5uTZi0GQbi33B
PalKIUKg
• Digital book about website development:
https://read.bookcreator.com/4cqX3YR5WyQ0z7gycV0TrhmsW3a2/W6cuxe6gQKShh
yJ7oS_Apw (Fig. 4)

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E-journal “Pedagogical forum” ISSN: 1314-7986
Number 3, year 2023 DOI: 10.15547/PF....

Fig. 4. Book Creator – Digital book about website development

There are many different digital tools for collecting and presenting information. Featured
so far are Padlet, Lino.It, Popplet and BookCreator. Other tools that pedagogic specialists can
improve themselves and their educational process are WordArt (https://wordart.com/), Buncee
(https://app.edu.buncee.com/), Wakelet (https://wakelet.com/) and etc.

CONCLUSION

Using various digital tools for collecting and presenting information makes it possible
teachers to teach the lesson in an interesting and engaging way, keeping the students' attention
for a longer period of time. Thanks to the opportunities provided by the tools, students acquire
and build additional knowledge, skills and competences related to their communication
abilities, organizational activity, teamwork, critical thinking and creativity. The opinion of
already trained teachers is that changing the atmosphere in the classroom helps to increase the
motivation of the learners and achieve better final results. In order this initiative to be
successful, retraining of pedagogical specialists in the field of electronic learning content
preparation is necessary. The idea is that they should know a larger set of technological tools
in order to motivate their students and increasing their interest.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research is supported by the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science under the
National Program “Young Scientists and Postdoctoral Students–2”.

REFERENCES

Hadzhikolev, E., Hadzhikoleva, S., Hristov, H., Yonchev, E. & Tsvetkov, V. (2021). Modeling
of Pedagogical Patterns in an E-learning System, International Journal of Emerging
Technologies in Learning (iJET), vol. 16, no. 24, 205–219
Slavova, L. & Garov, K. (2019). Cloud Technologies Implementation in Secondary Education,
Mathematics and Informatics, vol. 62, no. 5, 500 – 508

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E-journal “Pedagogical forum” ISSN: 1314-7986
Number 3, year 2023 DOI: 10.15547/PF....

Shopova, V., Dimitrov, I. & Garov, K. (2020). E-learning opportunities, Proceedings of the
Anniversary International Scientific Conference “Synergetics and Reflection in
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Spirova, M., Terzieva, T. & Rahnev, A. (2020). Digital learning environments, Proceedings of
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Karadimitrova, R. (2021). Use of blogging to increase writing, reading and digital skills in
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Ivelina Venkova Velchevа, Assist. Prof., PhD

ORCID: 0000-0003-3173-4368
Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv
Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics
4003 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Email: [email protected]

Deyana Yovkova Peykova, PhD student

ORCID: 0000-0002-7029-0790
Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv
Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics
4003 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Email: [email protected]