Finding ways for kids to communicate information can be a bit of a challenge. Its easy to fall into the Power Point or Prezi track. Or even easier to not offer up any technology opportunities at all. There are loads of great creation/presentation tools out there. Voicethread, Google Sites, Animoto just to name a few are some of the creative ways in the past I've covered.
But I am always on the look out for something new and easy to use. And I think I might have found that.
Ok. So its similar to Glogster (which many people love) but in my opinion, much, much better. And I think it will continue to do so.
What is Tackk? It is a really elegant way to display information. When you land on the website you get a blank Tackk you can start working with share, no login required. The instructions are pretty simple:
You have an editor on the right side that allows you to manipulate colors, fonts, backgrounds and tags. Again, we still haven't logged in yet. And everything is happening in the web browser.
You click on a space you want to edit. In the header section you can title your Tackk and put in any other information needed. There are also options to add more sections, like pictures, text boxes and other media like embeds and videos.
The idea here is you can have multiple types of elements in a presentation of information. It's still pretty linear but the options to customize how information is presented are really endless.
Once complete you have a URL at the top that you can share your Tackk with the world. First you have to preview and share (that locks it down so other can't edit).
The downside is your Tackk expires after 7 days if you don't create it under an account and you have to be 13 to create an account. But with the account you can customize your URLs, edit multiple Tackks and they never expire.
Again, its not designed for K12. But it could be adapted for use in the classroom. And hopefully the creators will make an EDU space similar to other services that allow for account management by teachers and the ability for students under 13 to have accounts.
So check out Tackk (and follow them on Twitter @tackk_it). At the very least it could be a great way to do some flipped faculty stuff or curate information for sharing.
cross posted at blog.web20classroom.org
Steven W. Anderson is the Director of Instructional Technology for the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools in Winston-Salem, NC. He also regularly travels the country talking to schools and districts about the use of Social Media in the classroom. Steven has been recognized with the NOW Award and the 2009 and 2011 Edublogs, Twitterer of The Year Award. In 2012 he was named an ASCD Emerging Leader. Read more at blog.web20classroom.org.
