Using Thinglink

Even though I wasn't able to attend the MACUL (Michigan Association of Computer Educators) Conference back in March, I did attend virtually via twitter.  I followed a lot of commentary from those there about a site called Thinglink that was being presented.  I had already seen a little about the site, but I decided I would spend a little time investigating it and trying to use it.   As soon as I got there, the ideas started popping.  Light bulbs were going off in my head and I was inspired.  I could envision making my library visually digital (if that is a term that works).

Thinglink takes images and allows you to place access to links, video, text, whatever right on the photo.  It makes your photo interactive. How cool is that?

I have decided my summer mission is to make several of these interactive images to train my students how to use the library and how to locate books.  Right now, we have several categories in the catalog and several different locations, but they are all amuck.  It's hard to know where to find everything. My hope is if I make the library interactive and place it on the website- kids can see the points and know where it all is.

I started trying it just to see how it worked.  It was fast and simple.  It took very little time to add links and type a little text.  I linked a lot to my dropbox.  I am thinking I could also use this in my French class as a potential PBL activity.  Kids could take an image and link to some points of interest and write some text in French. It may turn out to be a fun activity for the kids and for me.