The following article is excerpted from the book, "40 Ways to Inspire Learning with Mobile Devices". 

Create Interactive Images

Photos are a beautiful way to capture a moment. However, sometimes you’d like to know more about that moment. What if you could tap on a photo of world leaders to hear more about their conflicting opinions? It would be interesting to scan a map of the solar system and tap on a planet to pop up facts and photos of it. Imagine tapping around a photo of a bookcase to hear reviews of the books on the shelves? The creation of these sorts of interactive images enables students to learn by visually mapping their knowledge on a two dimensional photo. 

Create these sorts of interactive images with the ThingLink app and web service. Download the app on your mobile device or go to the ThingLink website at http://www.thinglink.com. Import an image and add hotspots that pop up additional information or link to videos and websites. Of course, you can create your own media and embed them as hotspots in the image. When you’re done, you can elect to share your creations with others.

Follow the steps outlined below to create your interactive ThingLink image. 

STEPS
  • Download the ThingLink app or go to the website at http://www.thinglink.com.
  • Create a free ThingLink educator account.
  • Create an interactive ThingLink image by creating a visual backdrop and assembling media and resources relating to the theme. For example, let’s assume your theme relates to America in the 1960’s. Here’s one approach: 
    • Create or find a dated timeline of the 1960’s to use as your background image. You can always draw it on paper and snap a photo of it.
    • Assemble resources such as YouTube videos and websites about events of the 1960’s. 
    • Use Adobe Spark Video to create a narrated documentary video about an event such as the presidency of John F. Kennedy or the war in Vietnam. Refer to the later section on narrated slideshows for a quick tutorial on creating one. 
    • Now tie all your resources together by creating an interactive ThingLink image. 
    • Insert the timeline as the background image.
    • Tap on the image to create interactive hotspots. Each hotspot app gives you a short menu of options that include, text, images, video and hyperlinks. For example, tap on the early part of the timeline to create a hotspot that links to your video about JFK. Tap in the middle part and link to a YouTube video about the Vietnam war. Tap in the latter part and add a text hotspot telling the viewer when Richard Nixon was elected.
    • Save your interactive image to your ThingLink account where you can share it with others.
TIPS 
The power of interactive images lies in the way they map information using visual keys. The best approach to creating a ThingLink is to have striking background images with logical hotspots linking to related information. Add hotspots above characters in a scene to hear them talk. Hotspots could be used in a diagram of the human anatomy to give the viewer more information about the various parts. Creating obvious connections between hotspots and the resources they trigger will make the ThingLink clearer and more memorable.

APPS 
  • ThingLink (mobile app and website at http://www.thinglink.com)

NOTES   
​You need to create a ThingLink account. Teachers and students can sign up for free accounts. You can create a ThingLink group with an invite code for your students. When students join the group you’ll have access to their work.

Tutorial Video