Posts Tagged: ThinkLink


12
Feb 12

Think Link 95%+

If you have been following the story of Triptioc’s ‘Think Link’ you will know that David Riley very quickly created the core concept and every since has been responding to feedback and ideas from staff and students every since, all in his time. And with each new revision I took it back to the classroom for testing. Colour, text font and size, to snap into place or not to snap into place, live editing and of cause Mollie’s recommendation to add a notes feature. Well, the perhaps the last challenge is whether or not to lock groups of hex’s in place for moving them. The final dilemma spun out of a challenging conversation with the veritable James Michie (@jamesmichie)and David Didau (@learningspy). These gentlemen always keeping me focused, keep me pushing forward. The question – whether or not connections should indeed be limited to a fixed number, further more why six or even eight for example.

There was more to this conversation than shared here, with James and David there always it, but it certainly raises a key point for Think Link. That said, to date I have only experienced one debate whether 6 connections was challenged. Indeed the debate that ensured, which of the seven items deserved greater importance, was in fact the highlight of the lesson. The ‘unplanned’ debate most probably and affirmed the students understanding more than the originally task. But I fully coincide to James excellent observation. So, to the latest update. Think Link with notes and editable colour.

Now just for one last chance use. Harry our 3 year old asked to help me with this post. I said he could in just a moment. He replied with

Do you know how to spell me name? H – A – R – R – Y.

Looks like we are off to test Think Link as a spelling tool?

Harry’s verdict – ‘It was great.’

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Popularity: 15% [?]


10
Feb 12

Think Link 95%

Another day passes and another update to ‘Think Link.’ If you have been following the conversation, you will know our students BETA tested the new ‘Think Link’ app from Triptico and returned their ideas. Late last night I received an email and an attachment from David.

You’ll have to find out tomorrow if the attached meets with Mollie’s approval!

David

Could you image being a Year 7 student – and seeing your suggestion being designed and implemented? I know Mollie and see will be psyched! I am hoping to get her to write her reply here later this morning.

It took all of an hour for me to then repurpose this new feature, think Blockbusters. As I was driving to work I realised that if you just put a single letter in the hexagon, write the answer as the descriptor, you have the option to colour code and voilia, blockbusters. Well almost, as long as you can edit the colour of the boxes – it will be as good as the real thing.

Just the connector feature to go??

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Popularity: 13% [?]


9
Feb 12

ipadio: Yr 11 Comandeers the IWB Pen. We Asked Why?

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A five minute impromptu conversation with a member of staff with an IWB in his room soon became a lesson for the teacher. A Yr11 student in for coursework catch-up saw what we were doing on the IWB and commandeered the IWB pen and proceed to organise the tiles. I asked him what got him up and out of his chair.

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Popularity: 16% [?]


9
Feb 12

Think Link 90%

STOP THE PRESS!

I was excited with David Riley took on the ‘Hex Learn’ project for a new Triptico app but really…. what he has created in ‘Think Link’ deserves your attention.

‘Think Link Plus’ – the first preview, received some really positive comments. Trusted, hugely experienced colleague and IT solutions company Director Mike McSharry (@mikemcsharry) described David’s work as ‘absolutely stunning.’ Now I am biased, but not only do they look good they have real educational impact. One or two complementary tweets fell past my eye-line as well… so thank you for that.

 

However, just hold on a minute, David spent most of his spare time working on the app for the past week and its almost done….

This morning I had a good look around the latest version, and posted a few suggestions back to David (@David_Triptico). I know its not finished, but Think Link is so good, that I am going to let my Year 7s loose on it this morning. To allow them to showcase their understanding of how campaign leaflets are constructed and how the different features of a leaflet are combined for impact. Here is their answer….. and you will notice the language elements and the visual elements clustered together. This activity was led by Mollie, you received suggestions from the class and managed the ThinkLink board.

 

Recent Updates

Colour, remove hex, print borderline (very useful) and user guide. In saying that, it is so easy to use, it doesn’t really need a user guide. It is definitely one of the products strengths.

The saved Triptico file records both the colour and the coordinates, very useful.

Known Bugs

When loading a saved page, the colours change. The students actually liked this bug!

Feedback

I know David plan’s to release Triptico into the wild pretty soon but just for the record here are the points / requests I shared with him.

Add a hex tile for the activity title.

You have a remove hex option. Can the hexs also be made editable once created?  That way you could correct typos, change the colour? This could open new learning opportunities in terms of grouping and re-grouping hex’s? (I know you can do this in the save file).

Student Feedback

This class loves being interviewed via @ipadio and the thought that their opinions count. And of course they do.

Students really liked it –

The first request was that when hexs ‘connected’ they actually connected. More imoprtantly that when two or more connected hex’s were moved, they ALL moved. Grace then astutely added, this would require you to be able to disconnect a hex as well.

Mollie asked for a hover feature. For example, if you are using terms, you could hover over a hex to reveal a definition. Interesting idea I thought. (This was also a later reflection from our Yr 11 interview with Cameron in a subsequent post.)

Shawn said that the colour “was important to his understanding and to understanding the importance of the connection.”

Olivia asked if we could upload a background image.

All this and more in the ipadio post. Lets hope we hear Davids response.

Please support the Triptico App.

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Popularity: 20% [?]


9
Feb 12

ipadio: Yr 7 Triptico Think Link

Just for the record, Triptico is FREE and I have no commericial interests or ties to the product, however I will say I use one of the 20 tools, almost everyday in my teaching.

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Popularity: 8% [?]