Bristol Community College’s Education Department creates family-friendly COVID-19 information resource on new digital platform

Students and faculty from Bristol Community College’s Education Department, including the college’s Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Elementary Education programs, have created a free, family-friendly resource for COVID-19 related information using the increasingly popular new digital platform Padlet.

As a component of the department’s curriculum, Bristol’s COVID-19 Resources Padlet provides an interactive source for families seeking credible information, videos, websites, activities, stories and books related to the current pandemic. The project was developed by Bristol’s Education Department Faculty and Staff members: Engin Atasay, Melissa Cardelli, MaryAnn Casavant and Carole Norberg, to engage students in current program-related resources while assisting the community with valuable information.

Bristol Community College Education Department COVID-19 Resources Padlet: https://padlet.com/melissa_cardelli/yhsup5ulu49038rq

With the guidance of faculty, students in the first year of the ECE program have contributed resources related to mindfulness and assisting children and adults dealing with stress at various levels, while second-year students have contributed activities and materials for children as well as helpful tips for families of children in infant/toddler programs, preschools and elementary schools.

The multiplatform collaboration tool, Padlet, was chosen for its ease of access to community members, by computer or mobile devices, as well as the ability for students to share and interact with content by uploading and creating materials in one central location. Students were also able to utilize the resources they found and share them or incorporate them into their practicum.

The Padlet tool was also already being utilized by Bristol’s ECE faculty to support students constructing their final portfolio for the program. The college’s ECE faculty hopes to further expand its use, given the ability to present work using a variety of visual and written modalities, supporting different learning styles.