ThingLink is an online app that allows you to upload an image and then add clickable icons in various locations on the image for text, image, audio, and video comments. The great part of this service is that, even though I’m retired, I could still get the educator’s account for a mere $35/year! The bonuses are worth it.

As I prepared for this post I thought, ‘Why use someone else’s ThingLink image when I can create one for myself?’ so that’s what I did. I uploaded a graphic map of my school library that I’d personally created (with Inspiration), then added icon links to give students text or photo info about that section. I even added a video link to help students learn how to choose a good book and also a SoundCloud link to an image with my voice about checking out their materials!

Creating the “Our School Library” ThingLink Interactive Image was a great learning experience for me!

I can see multiple uses in the library for this type of tool. It’s a great way to promote books: take a picture of a group of books, add a clickable icon on each book to a podcast or book trailer about it, then upload the ThingLink image to the school library homepage. It would also be good for introducing an online library resource: upload a screenshot of the online service’s homepage, add clickable icons for various menu items with incorporated text excerpts, images, and links to pages related to the class assignment, do a quick show & tell for students, then add it to the lesson library in our student learning system so students could access it as a WebQuest during the class.