I might need a 12 step program to overcome my Thinglink addiction at some point. A few days ago I posted a lengthy blog entry detailing and showcasing educator examples for how Thinglink can be used in an instructional setting:

• A Recap of a Conference or Event 
• A Hub for Instructional Tutorials
• An Invitation to a Parent Event
• An Invitation to a Monthly Pedagogical Dinner
• Tutorials for Students Based on a Screenshot
• A Guide for a Professional Development Session

TechChef even uses Thinglink to showcase iJewelry in a visual manner and detail the back story of chic geek fashionistas.

As I was scouring the web for additional edu examples to, I happed upon two from two of my favorite Thinglinkers – Cathy Yenca and Rafranz Davis.

By Teachers for Students: Cathy (better know online as Mathy Cathy) designs her images in Keynote and then thinglinks them. I have always loved her design aesthetic but especially enjoyed her most recent creation. Not only are they informative and meet multiple learning styles – she has now started linking them to iPad Friendly tools such as Desmos so students can be taken to a interactive graph to explore and interact in a seamless fashion – rather than sitting idly in the passenger seat. (If you are interested in designing these types of resources for your students – explore the 40+ iPad Friendly interactive sites.)

By Teachers for Teachers: Rafranz Davis uses Canva to create her images and then Thinglinks them as a guide for professional development. Her exceptionally detailed Chromebook 101 Thinglink is probably one of my favorites. When asked why she prefers the Canva tool to create the foundation for her Thinglink, she messaged (yes we were having this convo via Twitter DM):

“I like to use Canva’s built in layouts as much as possible because they are timesavers for people like me who over-stress. I can think less about how I lay out the image and more about what I put into it.” – Rafranz Davis

What’s even better is that teachers and students ultimately benefit from the intuitive design of the shared resources:

“My teachers love it because I can embed multiple resources in one image versus several postings. They’ve even started using thinglink in their classrooms which is a huge win!” – Rafranz Davis

But truly these blog entries are not fundamentally about the tool itself – at the heart, they are about thoughtfully designing interactive study guides for students to graph inequalities and for teachers to get a handle on the Chromebook.

FREEBIES and GOODIES OH MY!

TechChef4u now offers a Doc Locker full of freebies and goodies that can be used in the classroom. Lots of resources and templates can be found in the Creatively Productive Digital Downloads Doc Locker. Just sign up using the form below and you will receive an email shortly with a secret link to the site and password to nab your freebies.

As we all know, the holidays are a very busy time of year. November felt like it flew by and I didn’t even get a chance to reflect on an amazing mobile conference… iPad Summit. My last post focused on my session “Designing Thinking Around Thinglink”.

While Thinglink is offering FREE Premium access to teachers that sign up before the end of December (more info here and Cathy details the upgraded features here)… and I have received multiple thinglinks from participants since the event, I thought I would spend some time showcasing the ripple effect of amazing educationally focused thinglinks.

Ian Simpson (@familysimpson): We first met on Twitter and chatted about Boston eateries and then hung out in person and toured historic Boston and even visited the Harvard iLab (more on that in an upcoming post). Ian created an iPad Summit Thinglink from a Paper by FiftyThree image and thinglinked it as a way to quickly reference all of his learning from the event.

Truly as thinglink is the little black dress of web and mobile tools (thanks to Michelle Cordy @cordym for coining that phrase)… the tool can be used as a canvas to create anything in virtually any educational setting.

Corinne Gilbert (@cogilbert): Corinne attended and shared her cleverly created Canva and Thinglink app smash which… (I’ll admit after a bit of Google translation, I found)… is chocked full of resources for parenting in a digital era to promote a conference designed for parents.

Corinne also used the Canva/Thinglink app smash to invite educators to an event called (Un Souper Pédagogique Presque Parfait) Traduction which translates to an almost perfect pedagogical dinner which is a monthly event for educators who wish to meet to discuss pedagogy.

But wait… there’s more. The beauty of having a hashtag and sharing creations on various social networks is that people that cannot attend in person benefit as well. Lindsey Rosie and April Requard were two such people:

Lindsey Rosie (@lizzielu48): Lindsey virtually attended the session (from Switzerland) via the resources being shared out on Twitter and later posted her creation on Twitter. She dabbled in using screenshots of Java to illustrate the nuances of coding as part of her course in Schoology and shared some of her insights into future uses with the tool:

“I will use thinklink to annotate code in java lessons, as a review tool for units as I like the idea of embedding items onto mind maps to create interactive revision tools linked to both the school and external sources.”

Lindsey went on to share an idea for grades and 9 and 10 to have a mood board where students can link images and help videos to support their projects:

“It would eliminate a lot of writing for the students and therefore be beneficial for eal and ls students as well as more fun for others.”

April Requard (@aprilrequard) also attended virtually:

“Unfortunately, I wasn’t in attendance, however, as a Twitter and Facebook follower, I loved your reflections and the ideas shared. I was specifically turned on to creating images using Canva and making the images interactive with Thinglink. The possibilities for teacher presentations as well as creative content by students is truly endless. I’m totally addicted! ” – April Requard

April created two amazingly beautiful app-smashed creations using Canva and Thinglink for her upcoming December presentations.

April went on to share with me her love for these creative tools:

“It’s tools such as these that get my inner graphic designer (I’m a novice, but love it) and passionate educator the spark to keep the momentum going. Thanks, Lisa!”  – April Requard

Clearly April Requard has taken her virtual learning experiences and let her imagination run wild! (And we share a love of the same design aesthetic pairing of gray, pink, and turquoise.)

FREEBIES and GOODIES OH MY!

TechChef4u now offers a Doc Locker full of freebies and goodies that can be used in the classroom. Lots of resources and templates can be found in the Creatively Productive Digital Downloads Doc Locker. Just sign up using the form below and you will receive an email shortly with a secret link to the site and password to nab your freebies.