Biographies in Infographic Form
Last week while looking for a Canva template to create the copyright guide that I distributed in my Practical Ed Tech newsletter I came across an interesting template titled George Washington’s Biography. It’s a relatively simple template that students could easily modify to create a visual-heavy biography of just about anyone including themselves. Applications for […]
Ten Good Tools for Making Multimedia Timelines
Last week I read a Book Widgets blog post about fun ways to use timelines in your lessons. Reading that post inspired me to make a new video about making timelines with Adobe Express. It also prompted me to update my list of good tools for making multimedia timelines. Timeline JSTimeline JS is still my favorite […]
Two Ways to Make Timelines With Adobe Express
A couple of days ago I read a Book Widgets blog post about fun ways to use timelines in your lessons. Reading that blog post inspired me to create a new video about another tool that students can use to create timelines. That tool is Adobe Express. In Adobe Express there are two ways that […]
Eight Good Tools for Creating and Publishing Timelines
Having students create timelines has been a standard in the playbooks of history teachers since the beginning of history. Writing a timeline is a good way for students to chronologically summarize sequences of events and see how the events are connected. When I was a student and when I started teaching timelines were made on […]
Ten Good Templates for Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts Activities
At the start of this year ReadWriteThink re-released all of their popular interactive templates for creating all kinds of things including poems, story plots, timelines, compare & contrast maps, and much more. If you haven’t looked at ReadWriteThink in a while, take a look at these updated templates that can be used for lessons in […]
eStory – A New Multimedia Timeline Creation Tool
Whenever I see a new timeline creation tool appear on the Internet, I can’t resist giving it a try. So when eStory appeared on Product Hunt a few days ago, I had to sign-up and test it out. eStory is a free tool that you can use to quickly create multimedia timelines. There are some […]
Wiki History Game – A Fun Timeline Game
Wiki History Game is a free timeline game based on Wikipedia entries. I discovered it on Product Hunt last week and immediately lost about 30 minutes of my day playing the game. The game is a simple one, but an addictive one for history buffs. The premise of the game is to sort events into […]
StoryMap JS – A Nice Alternative to Tour Builder
Like many teachers, I was disappointed when Google deprecated Tour Builder and Tour Creator last year. Since then in my webinar series with Rushton Hurley and on social media I’ve answered a lot of questions from teachers about alternatives to Tour Builder. StoryMap JS is one of the tools that I’ve been suggesting when asked […]
Create and Publish a Multimedia Timeline With Canva
Last week a reader emailed me looking for a suggestion for making multimedia timelines with her middle school students. My usual suggestion of Timeline JS was ruled out because her school use Office 365 and the kids can’t access Google Sheets with school accounts. My other suggestion was to try using Canva to create multimedia […]
Getting Started With Padlet – What You Need to Know
Padlet is a tool that I’ve been using and recommending to others for more than a decade. I started using it back when it was known as Wall Wisher. I often used it to create digital KLW charts with my U.S. History students. Over the years Padlet has evolved by adding more features, updates to […]
Two Ways to Make Timelines Based on Books
On Sunday evening a reader of my Practical Ed Tech Newsletter replied with a question about creating timelines. She was looking for suggestions for a timeline tool that her tenth grade students can use to create a timeline based on books they’ve read. This is something that I’ve done in the past with some of […]
21 Canva Tutorials for Teachers
This is an update to a post that I published earlier this year. Since the original publication I’ve created a couple more Canva tutorials to bring the list to 21. I’ve been using Canva to make all kinds of graphics and presentations almost since the day it was first available to the public. Over the […]
Four Important Padlet Updates to Note
For more than a decade I’ve been using Padlet to facilitate online brainstorming sessions, create KWL charts, to make multimedia timelines, and to host many more online activities for more my students. Just like any well-loved tool, Padlet has gone through some changes over the year. In the last week or so Padlet has announced some […]
Seven Good Tools for Creating and Publishing Online Timelines
Creating timelines has been a staple in history teachers’ playbooks since the beginning of history. Writing a timeline is a good way for students to chronologically summarize sequences of events and see how the events are connected. When I was a student and when I started teaching timelines were made on large pieces of paper. […]
ClassTools Wikipedia Timeline Generator – Create and Edit Timelines
Russel Tarr, a history teacher and developer of ClassTools.net, recently released a new template called the Wikipedia Timeline Generator. This free tool will take a Wikipedia article and generate a timeline based on that article. That’s not all it does. You can edit the entries on the timeline to correct dates, to edit the information […]
How to Create a Multimedia Timeline With Padlet
Yesterday morning I published a list of my recommended tools for creating multimedia timelines. Padlet is one of the tools that I included in that list. The timeline templates are relatively new in Padlet so I decided to make a short video tutorial on how to use them. One of the things that I like […]
Six Good Tools for Making Multimedia Timelines
Creating timelines has been a staple in history teachers’ playbooks since the beginning of history. Writing a timeline is a good way for students to chronologically summarize sequences of events and see how the events are connected. When I was a student and when I started teaching timelines were made on large pieces of paper. […]
How to Make Timelines With Google Sheets
There was a time when I didn’t like working with Google Sheets. That changed about ten years ago after a chat with Kern Kelley who showed me some of the things that he had created with Google Sheets. Since then I’ve used Google Sheets for all kinds of things from self-grading assessments to data visualizations. […]
A Comparison of Multimedia Timeline Creation Tools – Updated
Making a timeline is a “classic” history class assignment. When I started my teaching career my students made timelines on big sheets of paper. Later I had them use some online programs that let them include some pictures and links. Eventually, we got to a place where true multimedia timeline creation tools were readily available. […]
My Top Twelve Tools for Social Studies Teachers and Students
Last week I published a list of my top five Google tools for social studies teachers and my top five non-Google tools for social studies teachers. If you missed either of those lists or you want all of them in one place, I’ve put together the following combined list and added two more items to […]
My Top 5 Tools for Social Studies Teachers and Students (Non-Google Edition)
Earlier this week I published my top five Google tools for social studies teachers and students. Recognizing that not everyone wants to use or has access to G Suite for Education accounts, here are my top five non-Google tools for social studies teachers and students. I didn’t include my all-time favorite timeline tool, Timeline JS […]
Multimedia Timelines as Book Summaries
A couple of weeks ago I read a fun history book titled Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure. The book chronicles Truman’s road trip from Missouri to New York and back in the summer after he left the White House. The book strikes a nice balance between being a serious history book with being suitable for the […]
Timelines as Portfolios
Last month I featured some of my favorite tools for students to make digital portfolios and tools for students to use to create multimedia collages to celebrate the school year. One of the things that I forgot to mention last month was the idea of using multimedia timelines as a means to sharing growth throughout […]
How to Make an Animated Timeline in Google Slides
Eighteen months ago I published a video about how to use Google Slides to create a timeline. Yesterday, that video hit 50,000 views. I watched the video again and realized that I could use the animation tools in Google Slides to add animations to my timeline. So yesterday I made a video about how to […]
Ten Great Tech Tools for Social Studies Lessons
Over the last decade I’ve written about a lot of excellent resources for social studies lessons. Over time some of those tools have faded away and others have moved to the forefront of my top recommendations. Here’s my current list of ten top tools for social studies lessons. Timeline JS Timeline projects as as old […]
8 Tools for Making Multimedia Timelines
Creating timelines has been a go-to activity for history teachers since the beginning of history. When I made timelines as a student and in my first year or two of teaching, timelines were made on paper. Today, there are better ways to have students create timelines. In fact, in Teaching History With Technology I feature a couple […]
7 Options for Creating Timelines Online – An Updated Comparison Chart
Making timelines is a go-to activity for many social studies teachers. When I made timelines as a student and in my first year or two of teaching, timelines were made on paper. Today, there are better ways to have students create timelines. In fact, in Teaching History With Technology I feature a couple of my […]
Three Tools for Combining Maps With Timelines
Creating timelines whose events are directly connected to a map display is a good way for students to see correlations between locations and events. Here are three tools that students can use to create mapped timeline stories. StoryMap JS comes from the same people that offer Timeline JS. On StoryMap JS you can create mapped stories. […]
ChronoZoom is Closing Soon
ChronoZoom, a good tool for creating multilayer timelines, is shutting down on March 15th. Roland Saekow, ChronoZoom’s co-founder, announced the closure through an email sent to ChronoZoom users. In the email Seakow announced that public projects will be archived and made available for download. Directions for making your projects public can be found in this […]
Two Simple Timeline Creation Tools That Are Frequently Overlooked
This morning I answered an email from a reader who was looking for a suggestion for a timeline creation tool. My recommendation was to try Timeline JS which is my favorite tool and is featured in my Teaching History With Technology course. But there are many other ways to create timelines. Two of those ways […]
Use TimelineJS for Writing and Research
This is a guest post from Beth Holland, Doctoral Candidate at Johns Hopkins School of Education Last week, I found myself a bit flummoxed with my dissertation and needed a different way to look at the literature supporting my argument. After fussing around for a while trying to draw something logical, it dawned on me that […]
Two Good Tools for Creating Interactive Timelines
Earlier this week I received an email from a reader named Ashley who wrote, “My classes have been reading Girl in Hyacinth Blue, a reverse chronology of the history of an art work. I would like them to do an interactive timeline to show their understanding of the text. I have never done something like […]
Share Your Sutori Timelines in Google Classroom
Sutori, formerly known as HSTRY, is a great tool for creating multimedia timelines. One of its best features is the option to include quiz questions within a timeline that you share with your students. For the new school year Sutori has added a Google Classroom integration. You can now import your Google Classroom rosters into […]
History Project Vignettes
The History Project is a service that I like to describe as StoryCorps With Timelines. When the service launched last summer it was designed to help people record and share personal stories in a timeline format. Each event on a timeline can include multiple pictures, text, and audio that you either record in the service […]
Three Ways to Create Multimedia Year-in-Review Timelines
The year is almost over and for many of us this is a time to look back at the year. Creating a year-in-review is a great way to celebrate our successes and learn from our failures. Creating a multimedia timeline is one way that your students can structure a year-in-review. They can make personal year-in-review […]
World Population History – An Interactive Map and Timeline
Last night on the Practical Ed Tech Facebook page I shared a post from Randy Krum that included a visualization of U.S. population growth. Watching that visualization led me to a related visualization about world population growth. World Population History is an interactive map and timeline of the world’s population growth from 1 C.E. to […]
5 Good Tools for Creating Multimedia Timelines
On Friday I shared a post about using HSTRY.co to create multimedia timelines that include quiz questions for students. HSTRY is just one of a handful of excellent tools that students can use to create multimedia timelines. In the playlist embedded below I provide directions for using HSTRY as well as five other timeline creation […]
How to Create Multimedia Timelines on HSTRY.co
HSTRY is a multimedia timeline creation tool that I’ve been a fan of since it launched a couple of years ago. One of the features that makes it different from other timeline tools is that you can build quiz questions into your timeline. HSTRY also offers a collaboration option for students and teachers to use […]
Jumble Mode Is a New Way to Play Kahoot Games
Earlier today while creating a chart to compare features of popular quiz game tools I noticed that Kahoot has a new formatting option called Jumble Mode. The jumble mode lets you create quiz games in which students sort answer choices instead of just picking one correct answer from a multiple choice or true/false question. The […]
7 Good Tools for Creating Timelines
Timeline creation is a go-to project for many history teachers. When I made timelines as a student and in my first year or two of teaching, timelines were made on paper. Today, there are better ways to have students create timelines. In their web browsers and in stand-alone iPad and Android apps students can create […]
Telling Stories and Solving Problems With Storyboards
Last night I hosted a free webinar about using storyboards to tell stories, illustrate problems and solutions, and to summarize favorite books. The webinar was hosted by Storyboard That. The recording of the webinar is embedded below. Storyboard That also owns the popular Photos for Class and Quick Rubric websites. At the end of the […]
My Go-to Google Tools for Social Studies Classrooms
Over the years I’ve used a lot of Google tools in my social studies classes. Some of those tools, like Wonder Wheel and Notebook, no longer exist, but many still do. Here are my five go-to Google tools for social studies classrooms. How to videos accompany each tool featured below. You can learn more about […]
Students Can Collaboratively Create Timelines on HSTRY
HSTRY is a neat timeline creation tool that I’ve been a fan of since it launched a couple of years ago. One of the features that makes it different from other timeline tools is that you can build quiz questions into your timeline. This week HSTRY added another nice feature in the form of collaboration. […]
How to Create a Map and Timeline Mashup
myHistro is a free multimedia timeline creation tool. When you create a timeline on myHistro each event that you add can be simultaneously displayed on a map on the same screen. Every event that you add to your myHistro timelines can include pictures and videos. On myHistro you can build a personal timeline or build […]
Running Reality – Mapping the Rise and Fall of Nations
Running Reality is an ambitious project that is attempting to build an interactive map and timeline of the rise and fall of nations throughout history. Currently, you can visit Running Reality and choose a date or range of dates on the timeline to see a map of nations around the world at that time. Alternatively, […]
7 Free Timeline Tools Compared In One Chart
Earlier this year I published a chart in which I compared the core features of six online timeline creation tools. The History Project is a new tool that I’ve featured twice in the last week so I updated my comparison chart to include it. My complete chart of comparisons of seven timeline creation tools for […]
How to Create Multimedia Timelines
Late last week I wrote a blog post about The History Project which is a site for collaboratively creating multimedia timelines. The History Project includes an audio recording tool that you can use to talk about events in the timelines that you create. I received a couple of questions about that recording feature so I […]
The History Project – Like Storycorps With Timelines
The History Project is a new multimedia timeline tool funded in part by The New York Times. Larry Ferlazzo tipped me off to The History Project and I gave it a try this afternoon. The History Project lets you upload your own pictures or import pictures from social networks to add to your timeline. Each […]
Six Timeline Creation Tools for Students Compared In an Updated Chart
Last August I published a chart in which I compared the core features of six online timeline creation tools. Since then one of the tools, Dipity, seems to have gone offline. In its place I now feature History In Motion which allows students to create timelines that are synchronized with placemarks on a map. My […]
How to Create a Collaborative KWL Chart Online
Earlier this week at TCEA I gave a presentation on mind maps, timelines, and collaborative brainstorming tools. One of the tools that I featured in that session was Realtime Board. Realtime Board is a great tool for creating and sharing mind maps, KWL charts, and diagrams. In the video embedded below I provide an overview […]