I can’t believe I’m saying this but the hardest part of this week’s activities was getting the timeline embed into my site.
Timeline gives me two options; either the first code, which is meant for sites that recognize oembed sources (Which I had assumed WordPress would be) and the second one, simple embed code. EVERY TIME I PUT THIS INTO MY SITE, it tried creating a “Embed URL”, which would immediately tell me “Sorry, this content cannot be embed.” I fought with it for 20 minutes and almost gave up until I realized I have to post it as custom HTML. That was unfortunate.
I chose to do a timeline of every Apple iPhone released from the first generation up until the iPhone 7 Plus. The 7 Plus was my first iPhone, and also happened to be released during the 10th anniversary year of the first iPhone. I figured this was a good point to stop so that it was not an overwhelming timeline; also, the CNBC article I used ended there and got me well over 6 points.
Timelines are much more versatile and comprehensive when they’re digitized than on paper. They provide much more context with the extra room for content, as well as the ability to attach photos and other types of media to let the reader visually understand the event. I feel digital timelines are a tool that should be picked up more in the near future to teach students about historical events; interactive learning is one of the best forms of learning and this provides just that.
