Creating Interactive Image

 

Every to often, I want to create interactive photos so that students can click on things to bring up information.  The two programs I've used in the past cost money and I don't always have the money available so I went looking for something free.  I found a program that is free and that allows the creation of interaction photos and other things.

Genially is a site that allows you to create a variety of interactive activities from presentations to gamification to so much more.  One can sign in using any google ID you already have and it allows educators to say they want to use it for class.  

After I set up an account, I then clicked on new project and discovered I could create a presentation, infographic, gamification, interactive image, video presentation, guide, etc.  You have a choice.

So I chose interactive image since that is what I wanted to focus on. As soon as I clicked on interactive image, it went to the page for creating an interactive image and there was a video right there I could play that took me step by step through the process.   That helped so much.  I would strongly recommend watching the video a couple of times to make sure you have an idea of how to do thing.  

Once I imported a photo, I had my choice of these types of interactivity to include with it.  I could do a tooltip which provides a short title or description when you run your curser over it.  A window which is a box that has text, images, video, or other content.  The ability to link a button to a page, audio, or adding a reveal.  So many possibilities.

When you actually get to the editing page, it is much like canva and other similar programs.  It gives you a ton of different buttons you can choose from and it is easy to resize the button.  It is also easy to create the interactivity to make the photo much more interesting.  When you are done, you can download the interactive photo or use it with google classroom.

 In addition, Genially also offers courses to help you learn to use the site for teaching.  At the moment, there is a course on gamification, a micro course on assessments, and a micro course on using it as an add-on for google classroom.  This site has lots of templates one can use for teaching and the site allows you to easily separate the educational templates from the rest.  The educational subtopics are educational presentations, unit plans, graphic organizers, timelines, informational organizers, flashcards, quizzes, planners, and assessments.  

I went looking for a place to create an interactive image and ended up with a place that will allow me to do so much.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.