LineHive allows you to create timelines from internet content.
The technology (or what are my powers?)
You can register for a free LineHive account which allows you to create your own timelines. Select any one of the “create” options to get started.
Add urls to articles you want to highlight in your timeline. The catch is that there’s a rather small limit to the number of urls you can add (3-6).
As you insert urls to articles, LineHive will save them to the timeline, making its best guess as to the date—typically when the article in question was written. This isn’t always the date you want viewers to note (e.g., the article may not have been written on the event date), but you have the option to edit this. Clicking on the date field displays a calendar which you can use to identify the appropriate date.
Similarly, LineHive will guess at the caption you want added, adding titles in many cases. You can edit or expand on this field. You also can change the images selected from the article or add a url to a different image.
Add a caption (a title and brief description) and save your timeline or publish it.
The url for this particular timeline is here: Serious games for health evolve.
All of your timelines will be saved on your profile page.
The LineHive JetPack
If you use Firefox as your browser, you can install the LineHive JetPack for additional functionality. This tool will alert you as you browse the web if there’s a timeline associated with a particular article. You also can use the LineHive JetPack to quickly create new timelines or to add articles to an existing timeline you’re working on as described here.
Instructional strategies
There are other interactive timeline tools out there, but LineHive is both extremely easy to use from a technical standpoint and very challenging from a problem-solving standpoint. Asking learners to pick 3-6 pivotal events surrounding a moment in history can create a great deal of interesting discussion. (You might want to keep those moments in history quite narrow in terms of time periods and create multiple timelines to show progressions or trends.) Use LineHive’s sharing tools to share your learners’ views of the events that define a historical period and link these or embed these on a web page with a discussion forum/chat box to create a richer learning experience.
Additional timeline resources
Instructional Design Fusions 