Digital Escape Rooms, VR Experiences, and Teaching Effectively with Thinglink
In a way, it feels like the start of a new school year. We’re setting up a new normal with new expectations. We’re answering questions, giving reassurances, and re-explaining procedures to overwhelmed admin, parents, and students. And just like every new school year, we have to be prepared to work longer hours in the beginning. But, teachers are scrambling to find time between creating digital content, planning weekly schedules, revamping curricula, grading assignments, answering emails, finding online tools and systems, learning how to use those online tools and systems, creating online-friendly assessments and resources, — well let’s just say the list goes on.
It should come as no surprise to teachers that this is the time to work a little bit longer hours, at least as schools are starting to get used to distance learning. But this could also be a time for teachers to invest the time into creating systems that will SAVE time later. How many times did I say time?
The idea is to create a self-running virtual classroom where routines and procedures are automated, and to set up content that is easy to find and fun to use.
So what I did this weekend was step back from the giant workload and think through some time investment strategies. I’m going to be talking about a program that I believe is heaven-sent.
Thinglink is an award-winning platform that makes it easy to augment images and videos. It allows you to create virtual reality experiences, assign reading texts, attach voice recordings of your lessons, and so much more. In the example below, I created a Thinglink for my students with all the assignments, resources, and links to articles for the week. This goes a long way in keeping them organized as they adjust to remote learning - and they really appreciate having everything in one interactive space. Click on the flashing icons in the Thinglink below to see what I mean.
Automate your classroom by making a Thinglink that your students can check everyday for tasks. In the Thinglink above, I embedded a checklist of all the assignments that need to be done by the end of the week. Because if I get an email saying, “Hey miss can you tell me what assignments I’m missing?” one more time…
My favorite part about it is being able to embed third party resources (like Edpuzzle, Quizziz, Kahoot, Google slides, Google forms, Youtube etc.) within one Thinglink.
Because students have everything embedded in one Thinglink, there is no longer the need for them to have 20 different tabs open — and anyone who teaches middle schoolers knows exactly what this can do to help minimize distractions from “other searches”.
You can get so creative with Thinglink. This one is on women’s rights in Yemen.
The next two Thinglinks use 360-degree images to create a multi-sensory journey though physical places with various resources and tasks for students to complete. Basically, you can create a task-based “journey” that can last as long as you want it to.
Here’s an example of a digital escape room I worked on for our unit on Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, The-Tell Tale Heart.
What I also like about Thinglink is the freedom it allows for imaginative story-telling. The next example I made has the storyline of a student attending a meeting on human rights violations, who is responsible for recording meeting minutes on a Google form to be graded and assessed.
Yes, that means you can embed the Google form, and get students’ submissions without hunting them down for it!
Before COVID19 decided to become the grinch that stole Christmas, I had an exciting project planned for my entrepreneurship class. We were to enter a world in Minecraft Education where the objective was for the students to demonstrate their understanding of investment and business strategies by raising as many funds as they can for a national preservation park.
Just the thought of how I was going to explain all the investment jargon, rules, objectives, and steps on how to log into the server from their homes made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up; especially since Zoom was no longer an option. And then, just like that, Thinglink came down and glory filled my soul. All I had to do was take the time to make it, and send it to students on Google Classroom a day or two before starting.
This shift in education is a time for us not to just work harder, but to work smarter — to create a self-running online classroom with automated routines and procedures. Hopefully, Thinglink can help you achieve that as you trudge along the next few weeks. I have spoken.
And here are some fun interwebz links:
How Larry David is doing in quarantine.
This vegetarian ramen I really thought about making but didn’t.
How to make quarantine whipped coffee.
Pottery Barn’s mid-season sale is legit.
Can’t wait for these babies to arrive.
These cakes shaped like toilet paper rolls from a bakery in Finland.
