Fall+2013+Tiki-Toki+Module+Page

What is Tiki-Toki ? Tiki-Toki's home page describes it best: "Tiki-Toki is web-based software for creating beautiful interactive timelines..." There is a free version of Tiki-Toki that anybody can use and there are several upgraded options that a user can subscribe to use and allows access to more of the features that make Tiki-Toki interesting. Timelines created on TIki-Toki can also be published for public viewing. It includes a lot of "cool" customizing features such as the ability to create and publish timelines in 3D and to insert video and audio.

What are the benefits of Tiki-Toki? Tiki-Toki has many benefits for classroom use. Because it is web-based software, it can be accessed anywhere on any browser. This means that students and teachers have access to their timelines anywhere that they have use of a computer. The many customizing features make the timelines engaging to look at and to use in a classroom or for a presentation. It is also flexible to use because timelines can be embedded into teacher websites or blogs. Tiki-Toki allows for multiple editors on a timeline which can be beneficial for small group assignments.

Here is an Example of a Tiki-Toki we created: Attached are two PDFs that show examples of teacher made timelines. PDFs were attached because the free version of TIki-Toki does not allow you to embed timelines.

Here is a brief example of a Tiki-Toki timeline that summarizes the main events of the French Revolution.



Here is a brief example representing some of the major events of World War I.



Tiki-Toki Activity:

Tiki-Toki definitely requires specific instructions for students when they are first using the program. We suggest giving students a chance to create a practice timeline with events that the teacher has supplied to the students in order for them to learn how to use the program. For this project, Jesse introduced Tiki-Toki to students in his 7th grade Social Studies classes. Jesse regularly uses a wiki with the students for collaboration purposes. Students were instructed to login to the wiki page and to click on the "Tiki-Toki Timelines" tab. Within that tab, students saw the following and were asked to pay close attention to the instructions:



In order to create a Tiki-Toki account, students need to have an e-mail address. Each student in the Wake County Public School System has an e-mail address issued to him or her. However, Jesse found that many of his students have not accessed their e-mail before and were unaware how to do so. Therefore, we suggest that the e-mails be set up and used at least once before trying to use Tiki-Toki in a classroom. After students created a Tiki-Toki account, they were given six basic events to use in a timeline about the "Events Leading Up to the American Revolutionary War." Students were instructed to PLAY when creating their timeline because this is the best way for students to learn about the interface of a new technology-related tool.

Once students created their practice Tiki-Toki Timelines, they were able to share them with the class (presentation format or using the wiki program) and to learn more about the program from each other. The Student Examples below show some of the different ways that students set up their timelines and how creative one can be with the timelines.

Now that the students have had an opportunity to practice and create a timeline of their own as well as observe their peers' timelines, they are able to do the following:
 * Create compelling questions for their peers to answer about their timeline
 * Begin creating new timelines for future units/activities (this time without the events given to them)

How can I use Tiki-Toki in my classroom?

**Student Examples (students gave permission for their names to be used, as well as their work):**

=Timeline 1 (Kamari Stewart):=

=Timeline 2 (Andrew Salter):=

=Timeline 3 (Yamir Johnson):=



 **Teacher Examples:**

1. As teachers, we would like to create Tiki-Toki timelines to show students the relationships between events. By using the 3D model (similar to the way Andrew did in example 2), we can show students the progression of events in an engaging way.

2. Teacher examples can also be used to begin creating compelling questions. Many middle school students have not learned how to develop questions that address why things are the way they are and they accept what is given to them as fact. By showing students a timeline, we can have them make connections between events and develop compelling questions to help engage others and facilitate great conversation about historical content. For example, using the World War I example from above, students may create compelling questions such as:
 * How did the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand lead to the beginning of World War I?
 * What event propelled the world into war?
 * What event led to the United States having no choice but to declare war on Germany?

These types of questions engage students and lead to some really good class discussions.