A few weeks ago, I shared this timeline for our English curriculum study. It is a digital timeline that I created through TimelineJS, which is based out of Northwestern University's Knight Lab. A few people expressed interest in how I created the timeline, and the instructions are all presented very clearly and concisely on the TimelineJS website.
In a nutshell, you make a copy of a Google spreadsheet template from TimelineJS. (If you are going to have your students use this program, I recommend making your copy of the template "View Only" so that students have to make a copy from your copy.) Then you (of your students) fill in the information on the spreadsheet. The spreadsheet has spaces dates (start and end), times (if appropriate), heading text, explanatory text, digital media (images, YouTube videos, website links, etc.), and digital media source citations.
Once your spreadsheet is complete, the TimelineJS website walks you through how to publish your spreadsheet to the web. After a few clicks on their website, you have a moderately interactive digital timeline that looks pretty polished.
Honestly, the part that took me the longest was finding the perfect picture for each event on my timeline!
If you are thinking of having your students use TimelineJS for a project, here are a few tips from the website:
- Keep it short. We recommend not having more than 20 slides for a reader to click through.
- Pick stories that have a strong chronological narrative. It does not work well for stories that need to jump around in the timeline.
- Write each event as a part of a larger narrative.
- Include events that build up to major occurrences - not just the major events
No comments:
Post a Comment