What Is ThingLink?

ThingLink is an application that lets users easily add digital content to digital images and effortlessly share via email or social media. With ThingLink, images come alive.

Why Should I Use ThingLink in My Classroom?

We all know a picture is worth a thousand words. Who has not experienced that “ah-ha” moment of understanding a concept when shown a visual representation of it? With ThingLink, students add their own words to a photo, or add links to online sources, such as dictionaries, maps, sounds, or videos, that elaborate on and explain their image.

Who Can Use ThingLink?

Basically, this is an application that can be used by students at all levels and for all subjects. For example, primary students could label a photo of a basket of fruit by simply adding the name of the fruit in a tag, intermediate level students could add links to an online dictionary definition of the fruit, and advanced level students might explain through digital content the geographic regions each fruit comes from.

Teachers can use ThingLink as an innovative way to deliver instruction by making a ThingLink that contains pertinent task information, which could be projected for the class. With an interactive whiteboard, students can also participate in uncovering the knowledge contained in the graphic.

Why Should Language Learners Use It?

Using ThingLink encourages students to read, write, view, listen, explain, research, link, connect, create, and share a variety of multimedia projects. Simple tasks could be to:

• label items in a picture
• describe the action in a photo
• identify/answer who, what, when, where, why, how for the image
• design a stand-alone digital presentation on the topic shown
• distribute task instructions

ThingLink works on computers, tablets and smartphones across Windows, Apple, and Android operating systems. A cloud-based application, ThingLink saves automatically when content is added or edited.

With an interactive whiteboard, a ThingLink becomes a super visual aid for use in oral presentations. Sharing the ThingLink in an online discussion forum or blog gives each student the chance to share their 21st-century digital project.

How Do I Get Started?

Simply go to ThingLink and create an account. Start with the free account. The Edu Basic plan is free for teachers and students.

There are three easy steps to making an interactive image:

1. Choose a digital image – photograph or graphic

2. Add tags and link content

3. Share your ThingLink

Step 1. Click “Create” to make a new ThingLink, then upload a photo from your device, from the web, from Facebook, or from Flickr.

Step 2. Personalise the photo by adding your own text or links to any web content—sound files, photos, videos, webpages—anything available online. Hover your cursor over the image and click (or tap the screen of a handheld device) to add a tag from the options given. Do the same to activate the tags—and voilà—a 21st-century picture worth a thousand words is at your fingertips.

Step 3. Share your ThingLink interactive image with others immediately. ThingLinks are saved automatically and stored in the cloud. They can be edited anywhere, anytime, and are updated immediately, with no need to reshare—a beautiful thing!

Sample ThingLinks

Pannetone ThingLink

Oldest Mosque in Arabia

World Teachers’ Day

English Skills

Thanks to social media, taking and sharing photos has never been more popular. Images shared via social media inspire conversation—both virtual and traditional. Smartphones are ubiquitous, and photo sharing is made simple with Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. ThingLink capitalizes on this global phenomenon; it lets users not just share their photos, but personalise them by adding digital content to the picture. Thus, a simple photo can become a digital presentation in a matter of minutes. ThingLink is, quite simply, magic.