Timelines

In this reflection, we will take a look at four free timeline softwares available. The main focus of this reflection will be the site Sutori. After my research, I found this to be the most useful application on the list. I will then compare Sutori to rivals: My Histro, Time Glider and Time Toast.

A general description of the Sutori

I knew straight away, even from the cool sounding Japanese name, that this website would have a design/user-friendly outlook. Bases on the ideas of Belgian creators and born out ot HSRTY, the company has a great story which they showcase on thier site. Slightly different from the other services in this reflection, Sutori is more a collaborative presentation software. While it can be used for timelines, it is not just limited to this. Think of it as a kind of mix between Microsoft PowerPoint and Time Toast. The additional element of presenting the timelines means timelines can be presented. This allows teachers to walk through the timeline with students. As we all know, students will always take the quickest route and this will allow teachers to explain and describe the timeline in depth. It allows more of a story experience rather than a quick overview of chronological events. The speciality of this free software is the option to collaborate with students and I imagine this would work exceptionally well with an Interactive White Board. Students can be invited to participate and as a teacher you can monitor progress and oversee progress.

An account of your personal experimentation

Sutori

https://www.sutori.com

First, I was first greeted by the largest amount of sign-in options (Google, Office 365, Clever, Facebook, Edmodo). The Set-up wizard configures for Teacher, Student, Professional profiles and then further options allow a profile which is specific to your needs. To get started, the Guide Me feature takes you to a story which walks you through the process. This made making the most of the software quick and easy. There is even a Help Desk chat feature if you need help from an assistant. It’s features and support like this which really make the difference.

Another great feature were the Guiding Packs. These are essentially templates which are well categorised in to topics. It can help give you project an initial look and set-up which can be modified. They can also be used and presented in class as part of a lesson plan. They are categorised by age/level and subject. I decided to use one of these templates to start my timeline. I opted to make a Biography page on Karl Lagerfeld, who sadly died last week. Check out my page:-

My Karl Lagerfeld Bio on Sutori

Adding images was super easy and Sutori offers access to stock images through Unsplash which saves so much time. Embedding links is as simple as copy-pasting the link but the results this site gives are great. When linking, a title and subtitle are show below a thumbnail image from the article. This is all automatically linked to the source and is wonderfully useful for additional information. It looks clean and professional. Moving events around was very smooth and easy. Sutori allows more aesthetic control on the timeline meaning that you can put the information where you want it and make it appealing to read. However, I had issues moving an event past a YouTube video which seemed to block the timeline’s editing. A heap of additional features are available here such as interactive multiple choice questions to test students understanding as the watch the time line. The presentation mode also has a side-menu allowing you to effortlessly navigate between the contents of the presentation.

My Histro

http://www.myhistro.com

At first things were looking positive for My Histor. A Sign-in with Google sign-in client made the set-up super rapid. However, issues with the Google maps integration with Safari caused the page I was using not to save. This meant that I could no longer proceed. I loaded up Google Chrome to try out a new browser although this problem persisted and I had to put off the project until I could change Wifi spots. All in all, I found this quite frustrating. I was unable to use the application and judging by it’s appearance and general performance, I think it’s safe to say that I will never use this application again. Sorry, My Histro, but we got issues…

Time Glider

https://timeglider.com

Time Glider is a service for only students or paying members. I found my experience to be acceptable but, to be honest, the end product was drab and isn't worth the time and hastle. The big problem is that there is not much place for customisation (roughly 12 colours and 50 icons) which means timelines look basic as backgrounds, font type and size, and thumbnail images can’t be added. Also, unlike Sutori, you can’t move many things around. The List mode does make it easy to review all events and clicking on each event takes you to the edit mode. What I liked were was that dates are entered via a have calendar view which makes it easy to select. One event can be added to more than one timeline which is amazing. It avoids having to repeatedly input the same information over and over again and means new timelines can be made by drawing on previously entered information. Filters allow you to sort through events. Images, audio and URL links can be added to events however, unlike My Histro, there is no mapping facility – but we’ve seen how My Histro deal with this :-/ I experienced issues uploading JPEGs however, when added a cool preview of event information appears when you double click on the event.

It was indicated that Time Glider was an advanced software and, while I was only using the simple Student package, I was somewhat disappointed. The experience I had was that there wasn’t that much to do to customise the timeline. Yes, it provides a simple service and events can be easily added and managed but I somehow get the feeling that to create a timeline that looks appealing users must speed a lot of time adding a large amount of information. To see what the full potential of this software was, I took a look at some of the examples on the website. These are timelines that Time Glider uses to promote it’s services and to be honest, whilst I found the timelines to be functional, I also found them drab looking and uninteresting. After this experience I would in no way be interested in paying for the additional plans offered by this website. The Student version just simply doesn’t cut the mustard. This website needs to be reviewed, and given a face-lift. Whilst the functionality is there, there is no pleasure in using this website. It all feels a bit like I’m stuck in 1995.

Time Toast- DRAFT

Time toast

https://www.timetoast.com

Time Toast was much more visually pleasing. Its simple, minimalistic lay out along with an easy to read timeline uses colourful and visually appealing ways to make timelines come to life. Features such as additional infoformation on events which open with a double click in to a pop-out window, make interpresting the Timeline easy. Toggling between Timeline and List modes is effortless. Images are displayed as thumbnails next to the event information and look great on the additional information pop-out. Even with lots of events Time Toast manages to make the information easy to read. Time Toast offers a much more modern feel and it is clear that the developers of this site have set to work making this as easy and appealing to use as possible.

There are two modes: Draft and Public - which allow for a work-in-progress. Also, Facebook sign-in makes managing passwords easier. This software includes a nice touch for the History aficionados in the way that the timeline offers a BCE toggle for all dates pre-common era which is a great feature. One issue is that the event won’t allow a description of over 500 characters. I imagine this is so that the website can easily display everything in its snappy pop-out window, which I can understand, however it is a limitation I didn’t experience with the other services. Sharing is done by URL and there are widgets allowing posts to Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. There is an option for embedding in your websites which could be interesting for serious users, however, this is only available through upgrading an account. One criticism is the distinction between an ‘event’ and a ‘timespan’ I would rather see that if an end date is added this automatically becomes a timespan. I don’t find it is necessary to offer two options, the website should work it out.

On the whole, this is clearly the best option for making quick and simple timelines. As a beginner or for shortterm use, I would recommend this.

An analysis on the use of the technology in class for ESL

There are many possible applications for timeline software within the ESL classroom. Projects ranging from family trees, research on important people, reviewing stories covered in class can all make use of timelines to. Committing events to a linear organisation helps us to see development, relationships, cause and effect, and sometimes make links that we could not have made without taking the time to plot out major points.

One particular idea that would be particularly useful in an ESL context would be used in studying grammar. Concept of time and tense can be difficult to grasp for students. Examples given by teachers and found in exercise books can general and abstract to students. Timeline software could allow students to plan/log a period of time and then these events can be used in exercises and activities allowing for realistic reporting of events across the past present and future. As a teacher, it can be hard to draw on the personal interests and experiences of students. Producing documents such as timelines, the teacher would have insight and the student the context to better analyse the nuances of grammatical tenses. The software makes it possible to modify, comment and share the timelines with peers and allows every student the possibility to make a clear timeline that doesn’t involve stages of planning, drawing and correcting errors – common drawbacks of paper-based timelines.