Thinglink

I really like Thinglink because of its flexibility and its ease of use. For those that haven't come across it before, Thinglink allows a user to add interactive 'spots' to a background image. These spots can include text, links, videos and other forms of content so that these images can be a really effective revision and research tool. Many of the examples on their site just include spots randomly thrown onto the image with relevant facts but I think that they become much more effective when the spots are.

I have used Thinklink successfully as both a teaching resource (it works really well on an IWB) and as a homework task. It supports embedding and there are dedicated iOS and Android apps as well. The Thinglink which is created has a unique URL and this can be easily shared in whatever means you normally communicate with pupils. They have also recently announced an education version.

You can download a full guide on how to use Thinglink as a teacher here.

As a data interpretation homework task:

I have used Thinklink to enhance data interpretation and research skills. I provide pupils with a picture of a chart (we have a learning platform to make this easier but email, Twitter or any other form of file sharing would work just as well). Pupils then have to research the situation and add spots to the chart image which explain the fluctuations or changes. The example below shows how it was used by my year 12 class to explain changes in the oil price using supply and demand. The sheet I give them with instructions can be found here.

As a regional research task:

Ask the pupils to find a map of a region which interests them or which you need them to know about (especially useful for the OCR F585 pre-release). They then have to add 'spots' the the map to highlight key economic issues. In the past, I have used this for highlighting regional differences in the UK in terms of wages and employment levels. It could equally be scaled up to a world map if you wanted to highlight the ways that difference countries deal with particular issues. Approaches to congestion used in different cities is another example of how I have used it successfully in the past.

Other ideas:

• Take a picture of a model answer and place spots on relevant parts to demonstrate best practice.
• Take a picture of a economics diagram and get pupils to annotate it.
• Take a picture of a wider reading shelf and place spots on books with a brief description of their content and level.