How Educators Are Using Learnist

By Jennifer Roland

In the weeks since Learnist launched, educators have been finding ways to put it to use.

Learnist, as many have already pointed out, works much like Pinterest -- a way to catalog online resources on a topic and share them with the user's social network. And like Pinterest, it looks like a digital bulletin board with pictures and messages, and connects with Facebook accounts. In fact, the site's "learning boards" look quite a bit like Facebook’s timeline feature, and Facebook membership is required to use Learnist at this point.

In its current closed beta form, Learnist, launched by Grockit, is still very much in its infancy, but some curious teachers have already jumped on the wagon. Time will tell whether educators will stick with Pinterest, or migrate to Learnist because of its association with Grockit, which already has a large and loyal following as a social learning tool.

College physics instructor Leilah McCarthy created collections on subjects like electromagnetism, mechanics, and waves. High school English teacher Amy Gallagher Critchett posted lessons on grammar and writing. Also under the "Education" category are topics like Mythology, Analyzing Literature, Applying the Pythagorean Theorem, The Great Gatsby, and Common Core Math Standards.

Educators can also find some professional development, including information about flipped classrooms, technology integration, all about the collision between DIY and education, and a professional development summer camp.

Students can also use Learnist to share resources for group projects, to prepare notes to study for tests and write papers. The Facebook integration ensures that they can keep each other up-to-date when they make changes to shared study boards.

But education is just one of about 20 topics on Learnist. You'll also find topics such as Do-it-yourself instructions, like Aaron Burcell's Kitchen Hacks and How to Make Milk Foam; technology how-tos like Software Tutorials and Social Media Risk Management; and lifestyle topics like Benefits of Cycling are all intermingled with topics related to formal education, such as Bill Gordon's Classroom of the Future.

Companies have also found Learnist as a way to market their products, as with the Favorite Apps for Education tag, which is populated with boards from private companies that want to market their wares.

The creators of Learnist put together some resources to help users make useful boards.