ThingLink
ThingLink allows you to create interactive images. You start off with an original or Creative Commons image you upload, and then you choose what elements you want to include to make your image interactive. You can embed all sorts of things into your images, including videos, text, other images, twitter feeds and wikipedia entries. As the viewer scrolls around your image, he sees the icons pop up for your various interactive elements. You deliberately place your elements, so they can pertain to the image as a whole, or be used to give more information about specific parts of the image. ThingLink is an exciting, engaging way to present information. ThingLink is available for Android and IOS devices, as well as on the web. Although ThingLink was originally a Web 2.0 tool, the apps are actually easier to use in many ways, making it a great universal tool!
The best things about ThingLink
- Thinglink pulls images straight from your device, making it simple to get started.
- Embeding your tags is extremely easy! You just tap on the area of the picture where you want to embed your content, choose the type of content you want there, and then choose your content or write your text.
- You can easily move icons around if you change your mind.
- ThingLinks can be shared by link, or embedded into other platforms, such as a website or LMS.
The constraints of ThingLink
- While the website gives you access to a gallery of ThingLink interactive images made by others, these aren't accessible with the app. The ability to explore pre-existing interactive ThingLinks is one of the greatest assets of the Web tool. The app has a couple of Sample Images to give you ideas, but nothing like the searchable database available on the web page.
- You can only use photos stored on your phone or in your Google Drive to create your ThingLink. That means there are a lot of extra steps involved if you want to use Creative Commons, Facebook or Flikr images for your project. The website allows you to link directly to those places to upload images easily, but you obviously have extra steps if you want to upload an original image taken with your device.
- If you back out of the app too far, you lose your project with no easily identifiable way to get back to it. This can be avoided by saving along the way and choosing edit to add the next link, but it can make it very difficult to find links to websites and other media. These must be typed in or pasted. If a student is using one device to complete the project, he'll either need to write down all links he'll need to include, or constantly save and exit the app to copy and paste.
- While the web version lets you choose from a variety of icons and linking possibilities, the app defaults to basic icons and is limited in comparison.
How to use ThingLink
Original artifact made with ThingLink
Scroll across the image to see the links!
How students can use ThingLink
Because ThingLink is so versatile, students can use it in a variety of activities, across content areas. Students learn so much by preparing presentations, which is essentially what is happening when they create and share a ThingLink. Here are some examples of how your students might use ThingLink:
- Create an interactive book review - Students could take a picture of their books (or one that represents their books), and then embed a video they make about their book (such as a review or a scene re-enactment), information about the author, twitter feeds about the book, information about the time period the book was written, information about where the book takes place, and images that represent what the students think the characters look like.
- Interactive Maps - Students can bring geography to life by embedded links to travel sites, videos about significant topography of the area, music native to the area, images of the region, and text about how the land is relevant to the history of the area.
- Illustrated math concepts - Students could take a photo of a math concept in action, then use ThingLink to embed videos of the real life applications of the concept, other images, twitter feeds about the subject (you might be surprised at the discussions and connections you'll see at #quadratic) and text links to math problems worked out.
- Digital Science Experiment - There are so many science concepts that could be demonstrated with this app. Students could embed pictures and videos of their own experiments, allowing them to present their experiment, and reflect on what they have learned.
- Choose My Plate - Students could use an image of the Choose My Plate infographic to embed links to recipes, information about the different food categories, videos about nutrition, and weekly menus based off the principle.
How teachers can use ThingLink
ThingLink is an excellent resource for teachers to help make lessons more interactive and visually engaging. Some examples of how teachers might use ThingLink:
- Presenting Lessons - Choose an image that represents the day's lesson, and link all materials to that image. This would be way more engaging and interesting that a powerpoint, and would still allow you to access all of the links, videos, etc. that you need during your lesson.
- Study Guide - a quick, simple ThingLink with links to videos, web pages, or Google Docs of notes would be an excellent resource to embed on your class website. Students would be able to easily access these resources for further studying, and it's almost impossible to scroll past a ThingLink without looking to see where the links go!
- Introducing a Topic - an interactive image is a great way to introduce a new topic to students. They could explore the topic by watching a video, reviewing a twitter feed, looking at websites, seeing a map, and so on. By interacting with the content prior to participating in the lesson, they will have activated prior knowledge to help them better make connections to the new material.
- Unit Plan - Create a ThingLink that represents the entire unit. This could link to supplemental articles or stories, music, videos, the class twitter feed for the unit, and instructions for summative projects.
- Project - Create a ThingLink to provide instructions and resources for a project. This could include Google Docs of instructions and rubrics, videos or images of student examples for previous projects, a twitter feed for class questions and discussion about the project and a form to submit your work.