ThingLink is one of my favorite tools of the last year. I like it so much that I nearly included it in my new PDF 12 Awesome EdTech Tools for 2012-2013. ThingLink makes it possible to quickly create interactive images.

To create an interactive image in ThingLink you upload an image then tag it with little pinmarks. Those pinmarks can contain links to websites, links to images, links to videos, and links to sound files. In the past your pinmarks were only represented by a little circle on your image. But today ThingLink announced that you now can select pinmarks that are representative of the type of media to which you are linking. Now you have the choice of colorful round pinmarks, pinmarks to indicate videos, to indicate image links, to indicate that you’re asking a question, and pinmarks that are just fun (like hearts and birds). Take a look at the new pinmark icons used in the image below.

Applications for Education
ThingLink does have a collaborative option. You can use the collaborative option to have students post questions about a piece of artwork that you present to them. Take a look at this presentation for more ideas on how to use ThingLink in your classroom.