How Can You Use Thinglink in Your Classroom?
If you need some ideas as to what you can use Thinglink for in your classroom, click here and here. But, how do I see Thinglink being used in a classroom? Let's take a look at a couple different subject areas. One way to use Thinglink would be in a history lesson. Find a picture of a map and add in your points you want to highlight. You could color code your buttons based certain points of interest. You could add buttons to images of important historical characters and write out some information as to why they were important, what did they did in this particular time period. You could list out certain battle sites. Who won what battles? You could show your students exactly where those battles took place by linking to another map if you needed. You could add in videos of important speeches that were made during that historical event. I could see this as a project for students as well. Instead of the teacher using it to teach the information, this could be a way they present what they learned instead of writing an essay. Students could really get creative and find different artifacts to present historical aspects. I believe this application of Thinglink could work for any grade level history class. Because students are just clicking on buttons, any age student could do it! According to SAMR, I believe this would be on the Modification level. The task would be redesigned and allow for more student/teacher engagement, creativity and function. Thinglink really allows you to redesign the task and get deeper with the content. You get to bring history alive! What teacher, or student for that matter, doesn't want that? The example Thinglink on the right titled, "Major Revolutionary War Battle sites" can be found on Thinglink here. Do you teach Physical Education, sports medicine or a personal fitness class? Here is an example for you! Locate a picture of the body and label the muscles with buttons and include links to videos of exercises for the specific muscles. Teachers could do all of this and use it to teach the muscles and exercises or the teacher could leave out part of the information and require students to fill in the other information. Send students to your weight room, have students record themselves doing the exercises, upload the videos to Youtube and add the video to Thinglink. And now the teacher has an exceptional assessment of student knowledge. Did the student get the exercises correct? Did they use proper form? Were they able to explain the muscles? The assessments could be then shared for other students to see their work. Due to different learning styles, students who need to see the exercise would finally have that at their fingertips. Because Thinglink has an app, students only need a smart phone and with Thinglink, they now have an entire exercise program, with videos, instantly. They would be able to watch the videos and move at their own pace through their workout. Having a picture of the body would help students understand the location and shape of the muscle easily. You can describe and point to muscles but a picture or video will really help them understand. The example included was posted on Thinglink and can be found here. It does not add in videos but I think that is a great extension to the activity. According to SAMR, I believe this would be on the modification level. New learning is now possible because of Thinglink. Visual learners can actually see what they need to see about the body. The smartphone is safe to have in a weightroom and frees up the teacher from having to demonstrate every exercise that could work specific muscles. Now having Thinglink, students are in charge of their learning allowing the teacher to be a facilitator of their learning. I also think Thinglink is a great way to introduce a new unit or topic. In health we cover seven different units; each unit spans about two-three weeks. In that time, we cover a variety of topics. Teachers could find a variety of resources for their students and create a corresponding Thinglink. Students could then view the Thinglink and write a reflection on what they think is coming, what they already know and what might be completely new information. It would be a great way for them to do a visual discovery on new information. A more specific example that I would do would be an introduction to my Safety, First Aid and Injury Violence Prevention Unit. We cover such a variety of topics that a Thinglink would be a great way to get them started and see what is to come. As you can see from my example, I added a link to a hands-only CPR video, directions on how to care for 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree burns, and a list of signs of dating violence and helplines for people to call if they or a friend may be in an abusive relationship just to name a few of the buttons. My Thinglink could also now be easily shared with parents. I could send this out in an e-mail to the parents of my students and let them know what we would be covering in the next unit. This could replace the time-consuming "newsletter" that is sometimes shared with parents. Health class often stirs discussions and if parents know what we are talking about in class, that could open up even more conversation opportunities for parents to have with their students and reenforce learning. According to the SAMR model, I believe this Thinglink activity would be at the Augmentation level. There is definitely some functional improvement. Students are truly able to access multiple types of resources instantly, spell check is available and it allows for a new information to be presented. If the Thinglink is shared with parents, I think it would bump the activity up to the Modification level. I wouldn't be able to be so clear with what students are learning without Thinglink. To evaluate this Thinglink according to ISTE Standards, I would use the teacher standards as this would be an activity created by the teacher. ISTE Standard 3 is "Model digital age work and learning." 3a. This Thinglink allows me to transfer a variety of information extremely easily. I would not need to explain any of this information. Students would be able to watch the videos independently which is the goal of student-centered learning. 3b This tool would allow students to collaborate with each other. They could view the links work through the new information together. 3c standard would be fulfilled as well from this Thinglink. I could now also easily share information with the parents of my students. The more we can engage and included parents in the learning process, the better. Parents would now be able to support student learning and success at home. 3d Thinglink is an emerging digital tool that definitely allows users to support research and learning. Without Thinglink, this task would be very cumbersome and lack the interactive element. Never heard of ISTE?? Check it out the student standards here and the teacher standards here. |
SAMR- A Way to Grade the Value of a Technology in a Classroom
Example Thinglinks
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