Week three of my technology class is wrapping up and it seems it took me all week to iron out the bugs for my assignment. This week is exploring Open Source, Freeware, and Shareware. At first I thought about using my free version of Quizlet to add an audio assignment using a reading of a primary source, such as Jefferson's original slavery clause that was cut from the Declaration of Independence per the "request" of the South. I may go back to this yet.
However, In looking for images for a world history assignment I'm building, I came across ThingLink, which looks pretty cool. Essentially it is an image upon which you may add various other media by way of dots located on the image. For instance you may add text alone, a photo or image with a caption, a video, or Google 360. You may also embed the finished or published image to your site. Sounds pretty versatile, right? Wrong. At least not the free version.
The free version is limited in type and number of media you may add to your image. You may only add text and photos/images to your image. A couple of educator for fee versions let you add more media the more you pay per year: $35/year will get you videos as well as more student accounts (150), $120/year will get you the whole she-bang as well as webinars and 200 student accounts.
The introductory video was short and functioned more as advertising then actual tutorial. Once onto the platform to create a ThingLink, I found I needed to upload a saved image. In preparation for adding images with captions to the main image, I saved images to my computer (which died, BTW, so I had to restart and pull them off to work on another device). Tons of images and wasted time later, I found out that only the main image was to be uploaded--the rest of your media are to have a hyperlink to the images or other media you are adding to the page. This was frustrating.
Meanwhile, I found out that there are Lego, or brick, enthusiasts who plan and build historical tableaus using LDD, or Lego Digital Designer. I recall years ago when you could purchase the Lego design program on a disc. I recall it was adequate for children, for whom it was designed. Now it seems it is available online and free. Unfortunately, the Brick to the Past specialty Lego/bricks are quite pricey.
I finally get myself squared away to create a ThingLink and have added the last media link to the image and I'm ready to save, when the site tells me I need to upgrade to save this last one. Ugh! How's a girl to plan if there is no information on the site as to these limitations! An additional problem I was having was that even when I ticked the "stay signed in" box, ThingLink seemed to like to interrupt my work and have me refresh the page.
So to recap, ThingLink can be a useful shareware, but there are limitations that curb its appeal. Now the Lego idea, well that has some merit. If only the bricks were as free as LDD. My students expressed an interest in using Minecraft to build an historical structure, but there are limitations to the free version, and yes, there is an educator's version, but I have not check that out...yet.
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