Workshop [12]

First, we took some time to explore what kind of interactions are possible in Thinglink and what kind of content can someone make, for example with images, 360 images, videos, 3D Models.

During this time, I created some small activities with each interaction type, which are presented below.

Activity Link: https://www.thinglink.com/card/1917918175781978598

Computer Hardware Activity using Image

The goal of this activity is for the users to interact with the different hardware devices of the computer.

The users can interact with the content in different ways:

(1) By clicking on the HDD drive, they have to answer a multiple-choice question regarding the differences between HDD and SSD disks. Only one answer is correct.

(2) By clicking on the motherboard, the users can have a more detailed look of what a real motherboard looks like.

(3) By clicking on the RAM, the users are questioned about the name of this hardware device.

(4) By clicking on the keyboard, users can practice their typing in the embedded monkeytype website.

(4) Finally, by clicking on the screen, they get a surprise!

This activity of course can be developed further to include the other hardware devices as well e.g CPU, CD port, cooler etc. but this was a first draft that I created during the limited time that we had to explore.

Anechoic Chamber Activity using 360 Image

Anechoic Chamber Image Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:360_anechoic_chamber_salford_university_uk.jpg

Activity Link: https://www.thinglink.com/card/1917927360976388582

The goal of this activity is for users to get an immersive experience of an anechoic chamber, meaning, a quiet room and get quizzed on their relevant knowledge! I chose this concept because I think its interesting and unique. This is a room that is specifically designed, using acoustics theories, for eliminating all echoes.

The users can interact with the room in the following room:

(1) When they click on the question mark, they are quizzed about whether they can hear their footsteps when they are in a quiet room.

(2) When they click on the magnifying class they get prompted to Wikipedia where they can learn more about anechoic chambers.

(3) When they click on the pointing finger, they can read about John Cage, an important composer and music theorist who was inspired by the quiet room.

I plan on enriching the contents of this educational material, but for the sake of this exploration, that is what I managed to do.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Thinglink accepts only 360 images with 2:1 aspect ratio.

Explore the activity by clicking on this link

NOTE: This activity does not run well on Mozilla Firefox - Try another browser

Plant Cell Activity with 3D Models

For my experimentation with 3D Models and ThingLink,I tried some alternative options for the creation of the models:

1) Tinkercad

2) Paint 3D: This option worked very well because the models can be exported

IMPORTANT NOTE: ThingLink's supported files are either .glb files or .gltf

After browsing through the Paint 3D Library, I found some ready-made models related to biology and thought of creating an educational activity about plant cells.

The users can interact with the cell by clicking through its different components and getting information in images & videos!

Instructional Design

After the initial exploration of ThingLink, we went on to have a discussion about Instructional Design.

It's a process for creating learning experiences. It uses different models e.g ADDIE.

Its main focus is cognition. Its more related to the corporate world and adult education, like training employees, onboarding etc.

Below the definition of instructional design is given for clarity, and then a small reflection part follows as well as the scenario builder activity in Thinglink.

What is instructional design?

According to Wikipedia, Instructional design (ID), also known as instructional systems design and originally known as instructional systems development (ISD), is the practice of systematically designing, developing and delivering instructional materials and experiences, both digital and physical, in a consistent and reliable fashion toward an efficient, effective, appealing, engaging and inspiring acquisition of knowledge. The process consists broadly of determining the state and needs of the learner, defining the end goal of instruction, and creating some "intervention" to assist in the transition.

Thinglink Scenario Builder

Finally, at the last part of the workshop we moved on to explore the Scenario Builder tool in Thinglink.

The Scenario Builder functionality provides a level of abstraction that allows for a designer to visualize how different kinds of materials (media, text) connects to each other with the goal of creating meaningful learning experiences.

-> Optimal use: for adults, for onboarding

Think about a common problem that you would have on the workplace and how you would solve it.

EXAMPLE: A usual problem in companies is data breaches.

An instructional design experience designed to solve that problem would be to have a 360 image of the office with hidden points, so the users would have to locate the data breaches in the office e.g sensitive papers scattered in the office.

Scenario Builder Activity

For the last activity of this workshop, we had to explore the Scenario Builder functionality and create a simple instructional design solution about common problems that occur in the workplace.

The focus of this activity was to figure out how the different materials that we would create could be combined in harmony to create a meaningful flow.

So, there were two parts in this activity:

Firstly to to create the flow of the learning design as a scenario (connections, branches)
Secondly, create the different materials using Thinglink's media options

My Workflow

At first, I started brainstorming about problems in the workplace using Claude. You can find the whole conversation with Claude by clicking this link.

My initial ideas were about cultural misunderstandings in multicultural workplaces - cultural intelligence and awareness, taking inspiration from my previous workplace where we, as the team of Editors, collaborated with the team of translators who were translating our learning material.

Some other ideas were:

Course for digital literacy e.g phising atacks
Sensitive information sharing over company's tools e.g Teams

However, after conversing with Claude for a while, those ideas were too complicated so I went simpler.

Out of the ideas that Claude proposed, I liked the Elevator Etiquette and adjusted it to my thinking. I started creating the scenario on Thinglink.

The results

I called my scenario "Elevator Problems".

The idea was that a person, Bob, arrives at the office in the morning and stands in front of the elevator. There are two arrow buttons there, one that points up and one that points down. The elevator is currently going down, but the person wants to go up. Which button should Bob press?

If he presses the "correct" one (the up arrow) the elevator appears empty. If he presses the "wrong" one (the down arrow), the elevator appears full of people. Then, a question appears asking if the elevator is full.

If the elevator is full, then Bob has to decide whether to take the stairs or get into the elevator.

If he gets in the elevator (which is where the empty elevator from the previous step lead to as well), then the interior of the elevator is revealed as a 360 image. There is an interactive quiz inside the elevator and if he chooses the correct option then he arrives at the office.

If he gets to the stairs, then nothing else happens and,again, he arrives at the office.

The scenario step-by-step (follow the numbers) + Limitations

There are some limitations in creating instructional design scenarios in Thinglink.

There are limited branching options, which means that connecting conditional parts of the scenario is not possible. For example, if one wants to create a case where when a user clicks on a specific option, then the scenario automatically moves to a next part of the scenario, this is not possible via Thinglink. The result is that some things have to be done manually by clicking on the blue arrows.

This is sensible considering that Thinglink is not made for being an Instructional Design tool. It still provides some really good and free options for creating (limited) ID scenarios.

Play the scenario and explore all interactive elements

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