Tech Tac Toe: Thinglink

Thinglink:

Thinglink is a Web 2.0 tool that allows the user to embed links into an image. The viewer of the image can move their cursor over the image, see the links that pop up (they look like small bulls-eyes on the image) and click on each one to view the different links. It can be a great way to link information having to do with the image to a variety of online sources.

For a possible art history project I created a Thinglink having to do with Leonard da Vinci. Students could view the links and answer a few questions such as:

1. Who was Leonardo da Vinci?

2. What did he do?

3. What is considered to be his most famous painting? Why?

4. What is a parody? Which paintings of Da Vinci's are most often parodied? Why do you think that is?

5. Describe two ways in which art from the past can influence art in the present:

Thinglink example:

Students would then create their own Thinglink choosing an artist from a list or another artist they may want to research, with the teacher's permission, along with questions to answer about the artist (whose answers would be found in the links). They would include a variety of types of links including text, bios, timelines, maps, art examples, videos, parodies, or pop culture that is based on or else strongly references the artist, perhaps with a minimum of 5 embeded links with at least 3 different types of links.

The students' artist Thinglinks would then be posted on a class blog for the class to view and comment upon. Then students would choose a classmate's Thinglink to go through and answer the questions. An extension to the assignment could include partnering with another student where both students do different Thinglinks and then compare and contrast the two artists creating a graphic organizer using Web 2.0 concept mapping tools such as: Webspiration, Graphic.org, Educationoasis.. (many more found on: Web 2.0 Cool Tools for Schools).

I found Thinglink easy to use and imagine that most students would feel the same. But as my Technology class instructor pointed out, the trick would be to get students to find a variety of types of sources (one could easily copy and paste a bunch of links from a Wikipedia page). I think this is a great way to create an interactive research project that would be fun and engaging for the students.