Tag: elearning

Design Your Digital Self

On By soxnevadIn UncategorizedLeave a comment
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We are kicking off the ThingLink Summer Challenge #TLChallenge with a fun activity designed to help educators get started using ThingLink EDU. Explore the use of rich media tags to tell your professional story and introduce yourself  as you Design Your Digital Self.

About the Teacher Summer Teacher Challenge

This free, online, self-paced professional development is designed for busy educators who want to build a professional learning network and have fun learning! We have nearly 400 educators from 20+ countries signed up to participate.
To fully participate in the Teacher Challenge activities you will need to sign up to join our group. This will provide you with a 3 month free trial of EDU Premium for use during the Teacher Challenge so you can fully explore the powerful possibilities of using ThingLink for teaching and learning.

Design Your Digital Self Rationale

To engage students in learning, it’s important to help them make connections to their own world. This classroom kick off activity sets the tone for making those personal connections . The activity can also be very useful for gauging students’ problem-solving and research skills as you facilitate a similar activity in the classroom. This activity provides teachers with the great opportunity to address Internet safety and digital citizenship at the start of the year and the avatar can continue to remind students to protect their identities while online.

Steps at a Glance

  1. Create an avatar or use an existing avatar you have.
  2. Upload your avatar to ThingLink
  3. Add Rich Media Tags to your avatar to Design Your Digital Self.
  4. Add your annotated avatar to the channel, Design Your Digital Self by using the Post button found on the right side of an interactive image.
  5. Get to know other participants as you explore their work.

Get Interactive Directions

Classroom Connections and Modifications

  • Take advantage of the teachable moment and combine this activity with an Internet Safety lesson to help students distinguish between personal and private information when sharing on the web.
  • Introduce the activity at the start of the school year in place of a traditional getting to know you activity and encourage students to add tags as they learn, change and grow throughout the year.
  • Create a class channel of student digital selvess for use as an introduction to another classroom when collaborating.
  • Adapt the activity to fit into your curriculum and use it throughout the year as a place for students to showcase their growth and progress in a particular area.
  • Ask students to create a channel of their own to track their progress towards specific goals, adding tags to highlight accomplishments throughout the year.


Get Started

  1. Get Started with the ThingLink Teacher Challenge
  2. Watch Video: Create a ThingLink for EDU

Additional Help and Support

Join Us

There’s still time to join us for this flexible summer learning adventure. All you have to do is sign up. After you sign up, you will receive an email with the invite code to join our district organization group named ThingLink Teacher Challenge. This will allow you to access our shared workspace. This will also give you access to the EDU Premium trial for use during the Teacher Challenge.This will allow us to share the invite code so you can join our district organization group and access the shared workspace. This will also give you access to the EDU Premium trial offered through this challenge.

We hope you will join us for this fun filled and excited, self-paced professional learning opportunity. Questions? Please email Susan@thinglink.com.

All Teacher Challenge Activities

Get Started

3 Reasons to Take the Next ThingLink Teacher Challenge

ThingLink Teacher Challenge Launched at #ISTE2015

Week 1 

Design Your Digital Self

Meet the ThingLink Teacher Challenge Participants

Week 2 

Collect and Curate Incredible Content

Week 3 

Create a Collaborative Student Project

Unpacking Google Apps for the Teacher Challenge

Quick Tips

Create a ThingLink for EDU

Convert a ThingLink Account to EDU

Post a ThingLink to a Channel

Adjust Image Size

Teachers / Schools / Districts


Next Week’s Challenge

Curate Incredible Content Created by Collegues
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Join Our Global ThingLink Teacher Challenge

On By soxnevadIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

With just a few short days until the official launch of the 2nd ThingLink Summer Teacher Challenge, I am pleased to announce that nearly 200 educators from 18 countries have signed up to participate.  This will be a great opportunity to build our personal learning networks globally and grow as educators as we create and share a useful set of resources. Use of an EDU Premium, district level organization account will streamline the collaboration as we share a full featured workspace.

Explore Our Participant Map

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About the ThingLink Summer Teacher Challenge

The ThingLink Summer Teacher Challenge is a free, self-paced, online professional development opportunity designed to help teachers explore the powerful possibilities of using ThingLink for teaching and learning. This 5 week challenge invites teachers to have fun learning to use interactive images, slideshow channels and interactive video to power up your pedagogy and redefine learning in the classroom.

Throughout the challenge, we will use the ThingLink flexible suite of interactive tools for schools to create media rich, customized resources for use in your classroom. The weekly challenge activities are designed to be beneficial to educators who are new to ThingLink and also to experienced users. We will explore all the flexible features of ThingLink and discover the tremendous potential for using this amazing tool.

ThingLink Summer Teacher Challenge at a Glance

  • Week 1: Design Your Digital SelfGet started with ThingLink, a very useful activity to get you and your students started
  • Week 2: Curate Incredible ContentDiscover, collect, reuse and remix the work of others.
  • Week 3: Explore ThingLink UnPluggedExplore learning on the go with a mobile device without wireless access.
  • Week 4:  Design an Interactive Collaborative Student Project Learn to combine ThingLink with the power of Google Docs to create engaging learning experiences.
  • Week 5: Flip It with ThingLink for VideoLearn to create interactive video and include it in a slideshow channel.

Week 1 will begin on June 28th. Entries will be accepted until mid August.

Join Us


There is still time to join us on this self-paced global learning adventure. The Teacher Challenge official launches on June 28, 2015. 

Interested participants can sign up through the quick and simple form. This will allow us to share the invite code so you can join our district organization group and access our shared workspace. This will also give you access to a ThingLink EDU Premium trial, only available through this challenge. We will also send a reminder to your inbox to remind you about the launch on June 28th.


We hope you will join us for this fun filled and exciting, self-paced professional learning opportunity designed for busy teachers like us. Questions? Please email susan@thinglink.com.


Rounding Up a Community of Learners with the ThingLink Teacher Challenge

On By soxnevadIn UncategorizedLeave a comment


I’m excited about the great response to this week’s announcement of the next ThingLink Teacher Summer Challenge. So far, more than 100 teachers from 10 countries have signed up to participate, collaborate and create resources for use in our schools during this free, self-paced PD opportunity.





An Opportunity for Global Collaboration

Building a global community of learners is a powerful way to adapt to the changing climate facing educators today. This summer’s challenge offers educators the opportunity to build global relationships that lead to trust and turn collaboration into results. 

Explore this interactive Wordle of participant locations so far, and please consider signing up to join us for the next ThingLink Teacher Summer Challenge. The first activity will be launched on June 28, 2015 via the ThingLink Blog.

3 Reasons to Take the Next ThingLink Summer Teacher Challenge

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We are pleased to announce the 2nd ThingLink Teacher Summer Challenge, back by popular demand.  Sign up now to prepare to join us when we officially launch at ISTE 2015 during the week of June 28th.


About the ThingLink Summer Teacher Challenge

The ThingLink Summer Teacher Challenge is a free, self-paced, online professional development opportunity designed to help teachers explore the powerful possibilities of using ThingLink for teaching and learning. This 5 week challenge invites teachers to have fun learning to use interactive images, slideshow channels and interactive video to power up your pedagogy and redefine learning in the classroom.

 Throughout the challenge, we will use the ThingLink flexible suite of interactive tools for schools to create media rich, customized resources for use in your classroom. The weekly challenge activities are designed to be beneficial to educators who are new to ThingLink and also to experienced users. We will explore all the flexible features of ThingLink and discover the tremendous potential for using this amazing tool. Here are 3 reasons to take the ThingLink Summer Teacher Challenge.

Engage in Self-Paced Summer Learning Through Constructive Play

Summer is a time when teachers can enjoy a break from the highly scheduled daily routines of the school year and the ThingLink Summer Teacher Challenge is designed to compliment your summer lifestyle. There are no rigid deadlines to interfere with your plans, so you can progress at your own pace and enjoy the freedom and time you need to learn and experiment through constructive play. Of course, there will be plenty of support available as you need it throughout the challenge.

Connect and Share with a Community of Learners to Build Your PLN

As use of technology in the classroom becomes more prevalent, and we strive to adapt to the changing educational climate, it can be difficult and sometimes overwhelming to keep up if we are trying to do it all on our own. The ThingLink Teacher Challenge is designed around the idea that we are all learning together.

 One of the of the goals of this professional development opportunity is to connect, collaborate and build on the ideas of others through a shared workspace. We will utilize the streamlined management and workspace available within a simulated District Organization to facilitate immediate sharing of work and to inspire each other throughout the challenge. As a bonus, all participants will get a 3 month EDU Premium trial for use to provide you with the opportunity to unleash the full potential of ThingLink.

Create and Curate Resources for Use in Your Classroom

In addition to learning to use the powerful features available with ThingLink, each of the weekly challenges is designed to meet several EDU goals aligned with best practices and standards. The end result will be the creation of your own ready to use customized portfolio of differentiated resources to match your learning targets. In addition, you will learn to embrace the use of slideshow channels to curate a collection of resources created by others. You can use the resources as is, or remix them to fit your specific teaching and learning goals.

ThingLink Summer Teacher Challenge at a Glance

Week 1: Design Your Digital Self
Get started with ThingLink, a very useful activity to get you and your students started


Week 2: Curate Incredible Content
Discover, collect, reuse and remix the work of others.

Week 3: Design an Interactive Collaborative Student Project
Learn to combine ThingLink with the power of Google Docs to create engaging learning experiences


Week 4: Explore ThingLink UnPlugged
Explore learning on the go with a mobile device without wireless access.


Week 5: Flip It with ThingLink for Video
Learn to create interactive video and include it in a slideshow channel.

Week 1 will begin on June 28th. Entries will be accepted until mid August.

Sign Up to Take the ThingLink Summer Teacher Challenge

Interested participants should sign up using the form below. This will allow us to share the invite code so you can join our district organization group and access the shared workspace. This will also give you access to the EDU Premium trial, only available through this challenge. We will also send a reminder to your inbox to remind you about the launch on June 28th.

 We hope you will join us for this fun filled and excited, self-paced professional learning opportunity. Questions? Please email Susan@thinglink.com.

   

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Join Our Live Event on October 28th

On By soxnevadIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

I am excited to have the opportunity to connect live and worldwide with talented EdTech SuperStars during the next ThingLink Interactive Image Slam. Join me and guest experts Richard Byrne and Shelly Sanchez Terrell to explore some interactive images. We will learn about the powerful ways these amazing educators use ThingLink to transform teaching and learning during this informal webinar.

About the Event

Join us live on October 28th at 8:00 PM EDT, or sign up for the archive. 

A ThingLink PD Toolkit of Resources

On By soxnevadIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

This summer I spent much of my work time helping educators learn to embrace the power of ThingLink as a tool for Teaching and Learning. Along the way, I created a wealth of resources using a variety of formats to accommodate the learning needs of busy teachers. 

 The resources created have been collected and curated into one interactive image. I believe they are valuable for personal learning needs, as well as for use during professional development offerings. They were created to be shared and reused.

Explore, Share and Reuse This Interactive Image

Feel free to embed this interactive image into your own digital space. You can use, remix and share the resources when working with other educators to save yourself the time and trouble of reinventing the wheel. Enjoy!

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Free Webinar: Transform Teaching & Learning with ThingLink

On By soxnevadIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Are you looking for a user friendly and flexible tool to help you easily create engaging multimedia rich content to redefine teaching and learning? Are you interested in using technology to meet the personal learning needs of the students in your classroom? We invite you to attend our free webinar and explore the powerful possibilities that exist with ThingLink EDU. 

ThingLink EDU is a digital tool that provides users with the ability to turn any image or video into a multimedia rich interactive learning tool. Start with an image or start with a video. Annotate it with audio, video, images and links to any content on the Internet with the click of a button. 

Please join us for a free webinar as we explore inspiring examples and easy-to-follow instructions to help you transform teaching and redefine learning with ThingLink. 
August 18th at 4:00 PM CST

Transforming Teaching & Learning with ThingLink

On By soxnevadIn Uncategorized3 Comments

The experience of bringing together a group of teachers through a common learning goal this summer has been amazing. Now nearing the end of the ThingLink Teacher Challenge Week 7, participants are creating interactive images and self-publishing them all over the world wide web. 

 Interactive images created for the TL Challenge are embedded in thoughtful blog posts written by participants. Shared images can be found in Google+ discussions. Short and concise descriptions are circulating through the Twitosphere. Teachers are definitely collaborating about ThingLink.



Through the Stages 

At this point, the technology has become easy and the tool feels quite powerful. Ideas and confidence influence our decisions to integrate new tools in innovative ways with ThingLink. We are building our digital toolkits as we put new tools to the test. The power of possibilities brings out the true teacher in us all as we begin to discover learning opportunities everywhere. This is exciting.

 The interactive images created in this stage are showing strong elements of design. Images are designed to be visually appealing and they include a variety of multimedia to support unique learning styles. There is thoughtful placement of icons to guide learning and create a pleasurable audience experience. ThingLink remains exciting. The possibilities flood our minds.

Teaching Above the Line with ThingLink

The design of the teacher challenge was influenced Dr. Ruben R. Puentedura’s SAMR Model of tech integration. I created this interactive image earlier this year to present a look at ThingLink Through the SAMR Len. Explore this interactive image to learn more or read about it on the ThingLink Blog.



Explore Our Growing Collection of Interactive Images







Improve Digital Writing Skills with Google Docs

On By soxnevadIn Uncategorized2 Comments

Would you like to improve your students’ writing skills and help them bridge the gap between writing in school and writing in the real world? 

Join me and Simple K-12 for a free webinar on June 24th at 3:00 PM EDT to learn how to use Google Docs to thoughtfully incorporate digital writing into the curriculum. 

 Sign up for this free webinar at Simple K-12. Be sure to check out additional webinars offered during this free online event to help you  “Become a Google Tools Expert“. 





Explore my collection of resources

View more through the tab at the top of this blog.

Educators Design Your Digital Self

On By soxnevadIn UncategorizedLeave a comment
Join Us for the ThingLink Teacher Challenge

I have been having a lot of fun connecting with educators and expanding my PLN this summer as I facilitate the ThingLink Teacher Challenge. 

This challenge is a free, self-paced, online summer professional development opportunity designed to help teachers transform classroom teaching and e-learning with ThingLink, an easy-to-use interactive image and video platform. Teachers complete one activity each week and explore ways to use the tool in the classroom.



The challenge this week is Design Your Digital Self. The goal is to use ThingLink to create an interactive avatar to serve as an introduction to other members of the challenge. The activity is well-suited for a variety of student-driven learning experiences in the classroom, and it provides educators with opportunities to remind students about Internet safety and protecting their identities when online. As a bonus, the challenge uses a guided lesson, or channel of interactive images, as a teaching tool which can also be used to facilitate classroom instruction. All the directions and resources are in one place.

Showcase: Design Your Digital Self

Images submitted for each challenge are displayed in a ThingLink Channel to showcase the great work educators are doing. As more participants submit images, the channels grow. Meet the ThingLink Challenge Teachers.


View our weekly Showcase of images.

Take the ThingLink Teacher Challenge

Since the challenge is self-paced, there is still plenty of time to sign up and join us.