Augmented & Virtual Reality Conceptual Change (KAT) Differentiation (KAT) Personalisation (KAT) Scaffolding (KAT) Annotation Immersive Learning Description
ThingLink is a digital storytelling tools designed to accelerate learning by creating dynamic multimedia images, videos and 360° virtual lessons, building a visual and immersive learning experience. With ThingLink, students anywhere in the world can travel across distance and time to stunning 360° environments and create virtual tours of their own. It was founded to enable hyperlinks in images, so that whenever a learner is browsing through photographs, maps, graphs or videos, they can simply click on anything they see to find out more.
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Select something on the image you want to tag, tap it and then either enter text, tap the microphone to record an audio note, or paste a link in from an external source. You then can edit the tag to show what is available with icons for images, videos, links, and more.
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Add as many or as few tags as needed and ThingLink will save your progress as you go along. When finished, you'll see an upload icon as the project is uploaded to the ThingLink servers.
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You should then be able to share the link, which will take anyone clicking on it to the ThingLink website, so they won't need an account to use the project online.
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ThingLink allows you to begin with either an image from the device you're using, or from the internet. This also applies to videos and to 360-degree VR shots. Once you've selected your base image, you're then able to begin tagging.
Features- Edit & publish: Images, videos, 360° images, 360° videos & 3D-objects
- Secure sharing
- Engagement statistics
- Offline viewing
- Microsoft Office 365 & Google logins
Affordances- Interactive images can substitute linear PowerPoint presentations, educational videos, presentations, and posters
- Creating interactive images can improve the processes of searching and curating online content
- Pre-designed interactive images can be commented on, shared, and modified using the remix button
- Mixing different modes of text, audio, and video provides an innovative experience in the classroom
Limitations- Free plan capped at 1,000 views per year
- No engagement statistics for free plan
- Premium version for $35 that offers additional functionality beyond what the free tool can do
Educator Usage
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A great potential as a presentation tool — you can introduce topics, themes or situations in as much detail as you want.
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A situational language teaching with its ‘visual anchoring’ — in photography, ‘anchors’ can help an image get someone’s attention, and this can be the case with language learners too. (The tags created on a ThingLink image could act as ‘visual anchors’.)
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Empower students as content creators and develop digital literacy and storytelling skills inside or outside the classroom. Easily create engaging learning materials and virtual tours with your students on any topic in your own language. E.g Create an interactive 360/VR tour using the Google Street View app ( to take 360 Images to capture 360 images) on iPhones, Android Phones, and tablets.
More ideas for how to use ThingLink:
Web browsers (Latest Chrome, Safari, Edge), Mobile & Tablet
Other Resources
Check out the tutorial guide for Thinglink
Interested in more ideas?
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Check this out to see how you can make your classes more engaging with ThingLink!