On Tour with VR Bootcamps!

This fall I'm excited to travel to locations across the US to launch ThingLink VR Bootcamps!  Like any plan I've ever developed, this plan has layers. It's a complex plan that was built to benefit educators on many levels! 

ThingLink on Tour with VR Bootcamps

This fall I'm excited to travel to locations across the US to launch ThingLink VR Bootcamps!  Like any plan I've ever developed, this plan has layers. It's a complex plan that was built to benefit educators on many levels! 

ThingLink Bootcamp is Here!

An increasing number of educators are interested in including ThingLink and the new 360 photo editor for VR in their toolkits. At ThingLink, we recognize the value and importance of providing busy educators with professional development to effectively incorporate new tools and teaching practices into instruction, and we are pleased to launch ThingLink 360/VR Bootcamp for Educators!

Our Bootcamp promises to be bursting with enthusiasm and packed with pedagogy to help educators learn, share, and create 360/VR Lessons. Our goal is to help educators s feel confident and prepared to seamlessly integrate ThingLink 360/VR into the classroom.

About ThingLink VR Bootcamp

This Bootcamp focuses on the powerful possibilities for teaching and learning with virtual reality across all content areas and grade levels. Participants will learn how to design and personalize interactive 360 experiences in the classroom using ThingLink’s 360 photo editor. 

Explore this example in full-screen mode for the best experience.

Schedule

• Welcome and Introductions
• Overview - What is interactive 360/VR?
• The benefits of interactive 360/VR in the classroom, a pedagogical approach
• Hands-on: Try it! Add tags to a 360 image
• Lunch
• Tools and resources to capture content: 360 cameras and more
• Hands-on Guided Learning: Create your own virtual lesson with support using ThingLink’s 360 editor
• Share out

In the morning, participants learn to design lessons that combine the power of ThingLink’s 360 photo editor with Google Apps and other popular 3rd party tools. We will take a look at ways to redesign classroom instructional time to embrace standards with the 360/VR experiences.

The focus of the afternoon will be on creating and publishing a curriculum-aligned activity for use with students. We’ll take a look at tools and resources for content capture, including 360 cameras and apps. With plenty of time dedicated to applying the learning, participants will walk away with a 360/VR lesson to use in the classroom the next day.

Logistics

• Tickets: $175, includes a full year of the Thinglink EDU Premium with 360/VR editor and lunch
• Facilitators: Susan Oxnevad, Director of ThingLink Education, and the ThingLink Certified Educator Team.
• Locations have not yet been announced, so sign up below to learn about upcoming events in your region, or, schedule a VR Bootcamp for your district.

Maximize Your Instruction with Google Docs

Join me and Simple K-12  on Thursday, August 25, 2016 @ 3:00 PM EDT for a webinar designed to help educators Maximize Instruction with Google Docs.  During this 30 minutes session, we will take a look at great ways to use a Google Form to inform instruction.

Maximize Your Instruction with Google Docs

Join me and Simple K-12  on Thursday, August 25, 2016 @ 3:00 PM EDT for a webinar designed to help educators Maximize Instruction with Google Docs.  During this 30 minutes session, we will take a look at great ways to use a Google Form to inform instruction.

Maximize Your Instruction with Google Docs

Join me and Simple K-12  on Thursday, August 25, 2016 @ 3:00 PM EDT for a webinar designed to help educators Maximize Instruction with Google Docs.  During this 30 minutes session, we will take a look at great ways to use a Google Form to inform instruction.

Create Interactive Images for Teaching & Learning

Here is the interactive image used to launch the learning during today's Simple K-12 webinar!

Learn to Create Interactive Graphics for Teaching & Learning

Please join me and Simple K-12 on Thursday, August 18th at 4:00 pm EDT for a webinar designed to help teachers learn to Create Interactive Multimedia Graphics for Teaching & Learning.

We will take a look at some student-centered learning projects that are designed to engage all learners through the use of rich media. We'll explore ways to take advantage of integrated 3rd party tools, like Google Apps, to drive the learning and assess student learning. Learn more and sign up on Simple K-12.

Get Resources

Sign up on Simple K-12

Become a ThingLink Certified Educator

An increasing number of schools are interested in including ThingLink and the new 360 photo editor for VR in their toolkits. This is an exciting time for us and we recognize the need to build a very strong and talented team of experts who can help us grow. We are excited to announce the new ThingLink Certified Educators Program. If you love ThingLink and would like to be part of this team, we invite you to complete the 3 step process.

ThingLink certified educator is an official status that gives educators

• Recognition as a certified expert within the education community and a badge to display.
• Access to ongoing resources and support to stay up to date with the latest news and releases as ThingLink features are added.
• Opportunities to promote your work on our blog and through webinars.
• Support for your training sessions and plenty of bling.
• Permission to consult educational organizations about using ThingLink interactive images in the classroom.
• Opportunities to include ThingLink teacher or school licenses in training packages at a discounted rate. For each teacher or school activation, the expert educator receives a commission that is paid quarterly.
• Top consideration for special projects, including content creation, as these opportunities arise.

Become a ThingLink Certified Educator in 3 Steps

1. Complete the application.
   
2. Submit a 360/VR Lesson that meets our criteria for publication through our app and on ThingLink.com as an example of your work as a ThingLink Certified Educator.
   
3. Attend a virtual meeting with other ThingLink Certified Educator candidates on August 23rd at 7:00 PM EDT or at an alternate time if you have a prior commitment. We know you are very busy! After completing the first two steps, you will receive an invitation to the meeting via email.

We know there are many dedicated and loyal ThingLink users who are waiting for the opportunities offered through our ThingLink Certified Educators Program. Applications will be reviewed daily between now and August 15th, so please grab this chance to get certified. We would like to help our first round of certified educators get certified before school starts.

Question? Please email susan@thinglink.com.

Create a 360/VR Travel Guide or Tour

The next activity in the ThingLink Summer VR Challenge is to create a travel guide as a model for a project that encourages students to construct knowledge as they create. Explore the image above for a simple example, created using a CC licensed image found in the equirectangular group of Flicker.

360/VR Vocabulary Across All Languagues

Our ThingLink Summer VR Challenge is in full-swing and we are extremely excited about introducing our participants and sharing the vocabulary lessons that have been created!

We hope you will explore the map at the top of this post to meet the Digital Selves of the talented participants leading the way through this self-paced challenge. The map will be updated again to include more participants as they make it through the activity.

Create a Map Project Resources - SK-12

As a follow up to my Simple K-12 webinar, I'm publishing the interactive slideshow used to guide the learning. Please explore these sides and tap on the tags to learn more about the slides.

Engage Students in Vocabulary Across All Languages with 360/VR Interactive Images

We are extremely pleased to share the first round of interactive 360/VR vocabulary lessons created by amazing educators participating in the ThingLink Summer VR Challenge. These 360/VR pioneers have created highly engaging lessons filled with annotations that guide the learning and provide students with flexible learning paths to ensure success for all learners. They offer opportunities to collect data to personalize instruction and they model good digital citizenship through the use of proper source crediting of images licensed for reuse.

Create an Interactive Map Project

I'm excited to be facilitating a Simple K-12 webinar designed to help educators learn to Create an Interactive Map Project. This is part of a full-day of webinars dedicated to introducing Tools for Student Projects. I hope you can join us on Tuesday, July 19th.

My session will explore the interactive map project you see below, Struggle for Justice. Participants will learn how to use Google Add-Ons to quickly create a map, then they will learn to bring the map to life by adding rich media tags with details about the events, marked by hot spots on the map. 

Imagine the powerful possibilities of using an interactive map to launch a class project!

Vocabulary Across All Languages

Every ThingLink starts with an image.

This week's ThingLink Summer VR Challenge activity will help educators learn how to create a simple, yet powerful vocabulary lesson that starts with a 360 image. You will add tags to the image to introduce students to new words and concepts and build vocabulary. 


--> Learn more on the ThingLink Blog for Education

Using ThingLink to Collect Data for the Teacher Challenge

One of the greatest benefits of using ThingLink EDU as a tool for learning is the ability to easily build in data collection for assessment, planning, and personalized learning. Participants in the Summer VR Challenge will discover Google Forms woven throughout the lessons. Look for the icons to access these forms on the 360 World Map as you work your way through Lesson 1: Get Started with the ThingLink Summer VR Challenge.

ThingLink Summer VR Challenge: Tag it!

Explore this interactive 360/VR Lesson on the ThingLink Blog for Education

ThingLink at #ISTE2016

ThingLink made a big splash at ISTE2016 with interactive 360/VR lessons. Educators were excited to discover the powerful possibilities of using the sleek new tool to design learning experiences on top of breathtaking 360 images. Many thanks to Naomi Harm and Dell for inviting us to display our images on the gorgeous, new 70 inch LED touch display! Everyone loved exploring the 360/VR lesson on London, above. Explore the lesson in full-screen mode for the best experience.

Explore Resources from #ISTE2016

• Find a link to participate in the ThingLink Summer VR Challenge, a self-paced and free pilot with pedagogy. Sign up to gain access to the 360/VR Tag Editing tool and learn to create and share interactive 360/VR images.
• Find the coupon ISTE2016 to become a 360/VR Pioneer and lock in pioneer pricing, for life. Get the 360/VR tag editing tool plus all of the premium features of ThingLink for $100 per year for life. Take advantage of this ISTE2016 coupon today.

Take Aways from #ISTE2016

At ISTE2016 I had the opportunity to hold my first hands-on training session using ThingLink 360/VR. The room was filled with educators using a variety of devices. I'm happy to report that participants were able to work in teams to add tags to 360/VR images easily with very simple, basic directions. They were able to generate ideas for using ThingLink to meet their teaching and learning needs. It is an honor to empower educators with tools that help them transform teaching and learning, and ThingLink 360/VR is a tool that can do that!

Next Post: Get Started with the ThingLink Summer VR Challenge

Many educators at ISTE2016 stopped by the EdTech Coaches Playground to chat with  Jodie Johnston and I about the ThingLink Summer VR Challenge. Jodie and I met during the 1st ThingLink Summer Challenge 3 years ago, and it was such fun meeting face-to-face and working together to invite educators to join us this year! Teachers who recently registered for the summer VR Challenge are being given access to the 360/VR tag editing tool and the teacher challenge is about to begin!

-->Sign up

#ISTE2016 Resources

ThingLink is Celebrating #ISTE2016

To celebrate #ISTE2016, ThingLink is offering our new 360/VR Tag Editing tool to individual educators for use with students at pioneer prices! Educators can gain access to this engaging interactive tool for annotating incredible 360/VR images for $10 per month, billed annually. Take advantage of this offer now through the end of June to unlock the powerful possibilities of teaching and learning with ThingLink 360/VR.

Build an Interactive 360/VR Tour of the Smithsonian at #ISTE2016

Would you like to help us build a 360/VR interactive tour of the Smithsonian at ISTE? You're invited to stop by the Dell Learning Lounge, located near the Blogger's Cafe, to try ThingLink's newest tool.

Teachers and students are invited to join me and Naomi Harm for a 30-minute session in the Dell MakerSpace where we will work together to design an interactive 360/VR image tour of the Smithsonian. We’ll begin with breathtaking panoramic images of one of the world’s most fascinating museum and we will use the ThingLink VR tag editing tool to add interactive layers of artifacts to bring the image to life through text, images and video. Then we’ll explore ways to turn the resource into standards-based lessons that will engage students like never before! Stop by in between sessions to chat.

Build an Interactive 360/VR Tour of the Smithsonian

Dell Learning Lounge | Near the Blogger's Cafe

Teachers and students are invited to join me and Naomi Harm for a 30-minute session in the Dell MakerSpace where we will work together to design an interactive 360/VR image tour of the Smithsonian. We’ll begin with breathtaking panoramic images of one of the world’s most fascinating museum and we will use the ThingLink VR tag editing tool to add interactive layers of artifacts to bring the image to life through text, images and video. Then we’ll explore ways to turn the resource into standards-based lessons that will engage students like never before! Stop by in between sessions to chat.

30 Minute Sessions at a Glance

....Monday....	...Tuesday.....	Wednesday
10:00-10:30	*10:00-10:30	10:00-10:30
11:00-11:30	*11:00-11:30	11:00-11:30
2:00-2:30	*2:00-2:30
3:00-3:30	*3:00-3:30

*On Tuesday Naomi will be taking the lead while I present sessions elsewhere at ISTE.

Presentation: Dive Into ThingLink 360 and Virtual Reality!

Wednesday: 1:15–2:15 | Dell Learning Lounge | Near the Blogger's Cafe

Would you like your students to explore Mars, visit historic places, or dive deep into the ocean? Explore ways to use ThingLink’s virtual reality tools to immerse students in learning experiences as if they were there. Learn how you can maximize instructional time to help students develop higher order thinking skills as they collaborate, communicate and create, based on that common VR experience. Consider the opportunities to extend the walls of your classroom to bridge cultures and foster global understanding. Embrace opportunities to engage students like never before and help them connect to their learning with ThingLink VR in the classroom.

The ThingLink Summer VR Challenge is Almost Here!

Would you like your students to explore Mars, visit historic places, or dive deep into the ocean? Great news! The ThingLink Summer VR Challenge will provide educators with the tools, knowledge and support you need to create interactive 360/VR lessons that are will engage students like never before!

This online self-paced professional development opportunity is free and it's starting next week. Sign up for the ThingLink Summer VR Challenge today!

Join me at #ISTE2016 to Power Up the ePortfolio Process

Power Up the ePortfolio Process with Multimedia Rich Apps

Tues: 4:00-6:00 | Poster Session | Building/Room: CCC Lobby D, Table 40

Learn to embrace e-portfolios to empower students as stakeholders in their own learning. Explore apps that seamlessly support the three-step e-portfolio process to ensure successful implementation and management. Discover powerful ways students can create collections of artifacts to document learning as they engage in self-reflection and goal setting.

Join me at #ISTE2016 for Digital Storytelling with Interactive Images

Tues: 1:15–3:15  | Poster Session | Room: CCC Lobby D, Table 33

Every image has a story. Learn how authors of all ages can tell deeper stories with multimedia rich interactive images and 360/VR images. Explore a variety of examples and get resources to create powerful stories that engage students like never before and appeal to the diverse needs of all learners.

Please join me at ISTE to explore the powerful possibilities of digital storytelling with interactive images and 360/VR images during this poster session on Tuesday!

ST4T Session Resources

Sharing the interactive slideshow from today's presentation at Superior Tech for Teachers. Thank you to the participants who attended. 

Join Me on Friday

Imagine the Places You'll Go with Virtual Reality in the Classroom!

Friday, June 17 • 12:30pm - 1:30pm

Would you like your students to explore Mars, visit historic places, or dive deep into the ocean? Explore ways to use ThingLink’s virtual reality tools to immerse students in learning experiences as if they were there. Learn how you can maximize instructional time to help students develop higher order thinking skills as they collaborate, communicate and create, based on that common VR experience. Consider the opportunities to extend the walls of your classroom to bridge cultures and foster global understanding. Embrace opportunities to engage students like never before and help them connect to their learning with ThingLink VR in the classroom.

-->Sign up for this session

Watch a Quick Teaser

Countdown to the ThingLink Summer VR Challenge

In less than 2 weeks we will officially be kicking off the ThingLink Summer VR Challenge! This free, online, self-paced professional development experience will provide opportunities for educators at all levels to work together to explore and create interactive 360/VR activities for teaching and learning. This Pilot with Pedagogy is designed to help educators successfully embrace the powerful possibilities of the 360/VR Editor. We invite you to participate in this online learning experience.

Sign up for the ThingLink Summer VR Challenge

Benefits of Participation

• Get your hands on ThingLink's new 360/VR Tag Editing Tool for free during the duration of the 5-week teacher challenge.
• Gain access to our collection of 360 images, ready for annotating with the 360/VR tag editing tool.
• Learn, create and connect with innovative educators across the globe.
• Embrace the powerful possibilities of designing and using interactive 360/VR in the classroom.
• Curate a collection of ThingLink 360/VR Lessons created by colleagues participating in the challenge.
• Learn about opportunities to become a ThingLink Certified Educator.
• Relax, get inspired and have fun as you grow and learn to how to bring a whole new level of engagement to your teacher toolkit.N

Sign up for the ThingLink Summer VR Challenge

Kicking Off at ISTE

It has been a tradition for the past 3 years to launch the ThingLink Summer Challenges at ISTE, and I'm pleased to announce that the EdTech Coaches Network has given me a physical space to share the challenge with attendees this year. If you're going to ISTE, please stop by to learn more, explore and connect. Here are back-to-back sessions I'll be sharing on Tuesday.

Transform Teaching and Learning with an Interactive Toolkit 

Tues: 9:30 -10:30 | EdTech Coaches Playground | Station 3 
Learn to add a layer of engagement to your coaching menu by picking up a toolkit of interactive images and 360 content for modification and reuse.

Create, Connect and Collaborate: Take the ThingLink Summer VR Challenge for Coaches 

Tues: 10:45-11:45 | EdTech Coaches Playground |Station 6
Join our free, self-paced, online professional development opportunity designed to help coaches connect, collaborate and create interactive 360/VR resources across all grade levels and content areas.

If you can't stop by in person, no worries, the ThingLink Summer VR Challenge is all online! Just complete the form so we can connect with you to help you gain access to our brand new 360/VR tag editing tool and stay informed as we get closer to the kickoff!

Sign up for the ThingLink Summer VR Challenge

Get Inspired

Watch the recorded version of our ThingLink Live 360/VR Interactive Image Slam to get inspired by our some amazing ThingLink 360 pioneers, and think of the places you can go explore this summer during the ThingLink Summer VR Challenge!

Sign up for the ThingLink Summer VR Challenge

Live at Superior Tech 4 Teachers!

I'm very excited to be presenting a few sessions at the Superior Tech 4 Teachers Conference in Clearwater Beach Florida next week! I hope to connect with educators looking for ways to leverage the power of tech for learning!

My sessions will focus on great ways to combine ThingLink, multimedia, Google Apps, 360/VR and all sorts of 3rd party tools to design and facilitate learning experiences that engage students like never before. If you're planning to attend the conference, or if you live nearby, please join me for great ways to transform teaching and learning.

Transform Teaching & Learning with ThingLink + Google Apps

Thursday, June 16 • 10:15am - 11:15am
Learn to embrace the powerful possibilities that are available by combining ThingLink interactive images and video with Google Apps. Educators can use a Google Doc to collect information, automate tasks and make the workflow progress smoothly throughout any student drive learning experience. ThingLink is a media rich cross-platform tool that displays published Google Docs right on top of any image or inside of a video. Google Docs are useful for collecting data for assessment, collect feedback and even provide opportunities for reteaching and challenge. Better yet, those Google Docs are live and interactive so students don’t have to navigate to another page. Join this session to learn more about this truly great combination of tools for engaging students in personalized learning experiences with ThingLink and Google Docs.

-->Sign up for this session

Watch a Quick Teaser

 

Imagine the Places You'll Go with Virtual Reality in the Classroom!

Friday, June 17 • 12:30pm - 1:30pm

Would you like your students to explore Mars, visit historic places, or dive deep into the ocean? Explore ways to use ThingLink’s virtual reality tools to immerse students in learning experiences as if they were there. Learn how you can maximize instructional time to help students develop higher order thinking skills as they collaborate, communicate and create, based on that common VR experience. Consider the opportunities to extend the walls of your classroom to bridge cultures and foster global understanding. Embrace opportunities to engage students like never before and help them connect to their learning with ThingLink VR in the classroom.

-->Sign up for this session

Watch a Quick Teaser

Creating Personalized Learning Spaces and Activities with The Brain in Mind

Due to low enrollment, this workshop has been canceled. It will be rescheduled in the fall. Please stay tuned for more information.




I'm excited to be collaborating with my dear friend Naomi Harm and the talented team at Innovative Educator's Consulting for a wonderful Professional Development experience in Lake Geneva, WI on July 26-27, 2016. This action packed event promises to be filled with innovative ideas and practical pedagogy, as well as opportunities to connect, collaborate and get inspired by educators trying to make a positive impact on teaching and learning. 

About This Event

This two-day “MAKE My Day" workshop focuses on preparing teachers and administrators on how personalized learning and makerspaces can empower all learners in the new mobile teaching and learning environment. A variety of meaningful and purposeful student-centric learning centers supported with the brain in mind, and creative instructional approaches will be infused and modeled throughout these two days of facilitated instruction. The amazing IEC team and featured speakers or Travis Lape and Susan Oxnevad will also provide a stimulating learning environment by empowering networking opportunities between attendees, sharing of collaborative ideas through small and large group interactions, and implementing effective group work strategies through dynamic duo's and transformative trios, to maximize the learning potential for each and every attendee.

Explore this interactive image to learn more

Click here to reserve your spot today!

Join Kathy Schrock in Creating a Collection of 360 Images for Schools

Kathy Schrock is excited about creating ThingLink Interactive 360/VR images for teaching and learning, and we're excited that she's bringing her knowledge, skills and expertise to our journey. To help educators embrace 360/VR in the classroom Kathy has started a Flickr group to create a collection of Creative Commons licensed 360 photos for teachers and students to download and use in the classroom! This is all made possible through Kathy’s Flickr Group, 360 Images for Schools.

3 Reasons to Take the ThingLink Summer VR Challenge

The ThingLink Summer VR Challenge for coaches, teachers and students will provide opportunities for participants at all levels to work together to explore and create interactive 360/VR activities for teaching and learning. This challenge is free, self-paced and designed to help teachers successfully embrace the powerful possibilities of the 360/VR Editor. We invite educators from across the globe to participate! 

Here are 3 reasons to take the ThingLink Summer VR Challenge.

Dive Into ThingLink VR This Summer!

Scroll around this 360 image to learn more about our upcoming ThingLink VR Webinar 

The ThingLink Summer VR Challenge for coaches, teachers and students will provide opportunities for participants at all levels to work together to explore and create interactive 360/VR activities for teaching and learning. This challenge is free, self-paced and designed to help teachers successfully embrace the powerful possibilities of using 360/VR images in education. We invite educators from across the globe to participate! Sign up for more information about the ThingLink Summer VR Challenge.

Watch our Webinar to Learn More

Join us for a free webinar as we explore the powerful possibilities of creating and using ThingLink VR and 360 image lessons for teaching and learning. We’ll take a look at the new 360/VR Editor and VR Lessons app as we demonstrate great ways to use ThingLink VR in the classroom. We will also provide you with a sneak peek at the ThingLink Summer VR Challenge. This free, self-paced professional development opportunity is designed to help educators create VR Lessons. All educators interested in creating interactive 360 image and VR lessons are invited to participate and add your own content to our gorgeous 360 images. We’ll leave plenty of time for exchanging ideas and Q&A along the way.

Webinar at a Glance

1. Explore VR Lessons.
2. Demonstrate how to use the ThingLink VR Editing Tool to create your own lessons.
3. Discuss exciting ideas for lessons and use in the classroom.
4. Learn about ways to bring ThingLink VR to your school or District
5. Learn about the ThingLink Summer VR Challenge.

------------------------

Sign Up for our Free Webinar

Join us live Thursday, May 12th @ 8:00 PM EDT or watch On Demand.

------------------------

Sign Up for the ThingLink Summer VR Challenge

Get ready for the official kickoff during the week of June 26th at #ISTE2017 and stay tuned to the ThingLink Blog for Education for more details.

------------------------

Share the News on Social Media

Use the hashtag #TLVR16 and follow @ThingLink_EDU and @soxnevad for the latest news.