Veterans Affairs Web 2.0

I checked my work email this afternoon and through a listserve  (coedcomm@bellnet.ca)

I was directed to Veterans Afffairs to order our Remembrance Day Resources. The link took me to an invitation to use the internet to remember.

http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/feature/remember

Share It. Tag It. Link It.

The challenge is simple. Use the videos and images available on this site to create a mashup, a virtual scrapbook, a fan page or decorate your space. The options are endless. Share with others and link back to our Web site.

Collaboration, Creation, Sharing, Web 2.0, social networking.

...and a mobile app! This is where education should be.

My 3 Interactive image hats

Personal:

-addition of interactive photos to my future watercolour website 

-links to social networking sites

-instruction of my nieces for school presentations 
-adding sound and links to pictures of holiday locations

Teaching:
(requires Thinglink embedded in web page or blog)
-engage visual and kinesthetic learners

-student web page photo essay

-author studies
-interactive book reports 
-interactive storytelling

-detailed links explaining historical photos

-instead of power point presentation

-professional sharing of screen capture

-visualization role in discussion/literature circles
-science observations

-interactive self assessment
-virtual field trip with sound effects and links to additional information
-virtual road trip (country study)

 
Learning:
-demonstrate learning in future online courses 

Thinglink Pros and Cons

 Pros:

• more interactive than Flickr notes
• embed links to Wikipedia, YouTube, audio files, text, images, blogs, websites, iTunes, Facebook
• simple and intuitive
• simple addition of Thinglink to blog or web page
•  statistics re: views, hovers, and clicks
• add tags at any time
• upload with one click from Flickr, photo collections
• multiple uses for teachers and students

Cons:

• code must be embedded on web page or blog
• Thinglink code does not extend to new pages of blog

Thinglink in your Future: Step Four

This new tool, Thinglink has created interest in education and technology blogs alike. We read about Valenza's experience "...annotating and enriching (a poster) with presentations, documents, and media from school library programs all over the country."  
Van Grove (2011) presents Thinglink on the Mashable site. "Thinglink changes how people interact with photos by transforming them into a navigational surface for search, commerce, and social connection."  It's tagging allows users to create new experiences for viewers of their image by simple addition of links to a variety of media.

Thinglink is easily added to blogs and web pages. It links sound, video, social networks, and web pages to digital images. The possibilities for professional use and for uses in the classroom are limitless. Baumbach lists 21 + Interesting uses for Thinglink in a Google doc presentation and illustrates some uses on auntytechideas . |I can't wait to introduce Thinglink to my colleagues and my students. 

The only concern I can see is the use of Thinglink in school boards where internet filters block personal websites and blog hosting sites as the tool must be embedded on a web page or blog.

Thinglink in Action: Step Three

Hover over the tag and click Thinglink markers to access links.
Note:If using Google reader please connect to this page to view tags.