Review by Leslie Crenna, Common Sense Education | Updated March 2013
Get it now
  • Download on Google Play
  • Download from App Store

lino - Sticky and Photo Sharing

Get it now
  • Download on Google Play
  • Download from App Store

Virtual bulletin board lets you share and collaborate with students

Subjects & skills
Subjects
N/A
Skills
  • Communication & Collaboration
  • Creativity
  • Character & SEL
Grades This grade range is a recommendation by Common Sense Education and not the developer/publisher.
8–12
Great for:
Common Sense says (See details)
Teachers say (4 Reviews)
Price:  Free, Paid
Platforms:  Android, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch

Take a look inside

5 images
An example of a canvas viewed on an Android device.
My Canvases page showing several canvases and menu bar at bottom: canvases selected, groups, tasks, favorites, and settings.
Instructions on how to work with stickies on an Android device.
A photo-based canvas, showing how you might memorialize a trip.
List of some public canvases; unfortunately, these cannot be searched or tracked manually.

Pros: The colorful bulletin board synchronizes flawlessly.

Cons: Many features are Web-based and not scaled for devices, and overall it's a bit too busy.

Bottom Line: lino would benefit from interface improvements, but otherwise it's an engaging way to interact with your class.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

As with other social media-type tools, Iino - Sticky and Photo Sharing is not a teaching tool so much as an organization tool for your classroom, with features and usability that help you communicate with your students. Additionally, students might be able to use it, with your supervision, for clubs or group projects.

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Standards:

lino - Sticky and Photo Sharing is a virtual message center. After installing it and signing up, teens find themselves at a main page already full of stickies with links to Web-based help explaining how the app works. "Canvases" can have cork or various fabric-y backgrounds, and stickies can be one of 10 pastel colors with tags, icons, colored fonts in varying sizes, and a "due date" (which adds them to a task list). Users can embed in each sticky an image, a file for download, or a link to videos hosted by YouTube, Vimeo, or Ustream.

In the My Canvases section, users on iOS devices can create a new canvas. On Android devices, they'll need to connect to the lino website -- which functions like a dashboard for most of the Android app's functionality -- and then return to the app, where users are restricted to creating new stickies and viewing tasks. Tap on a sticky to edit, pin, or delete.

Teens can respond to teacher-inputted information and events through the modern, non-confrontational interface similar in function, if not appearance, to other social media sites. Administrators (that would be you) are most likely to post and manage canvases from a desktop or tablet, whereas invitees (your students) will probably read and post simple stickies from a phone or tablet.

With this relatively sophisticated and engaging app, teens can learn presentation skills such as how to communicate concisely, how to integrate images and videos in Web-based content, and how to target messages -- a lot of the same skills they should be learning on Facebook.

A great deal of the functionality -- like the ability to create canvases and move stickies around (for the Android app) and to manage groups (for both the Android and iOS apps) -- is available only through a link to the lino website, but that separate interface can be difficult to navigate on a small screen. Plus, lino is a tad too busy and crowded overall, and for inter-class communication, you and your students might prefer to stick with other websites or Facebook pages.

Overall Rating
Engagement Is the product stimulating, entertaining, and engrossing? Will kids want to return?

The design is colorful but a bit too busy and tight on phone screens. Buttons can be cryptic.

Pedagogy Is learning content seamlessly baked-in, and do kids build conceptual understanding? Is the product adaptable and empowering? Will skills transfer?

Teens can interact with family information and events through a modern, sleek interface similar in function if not appearance to social-media sites.

Support Does the product take into account learners of varying abilities, skill levels, and learning styles? Does it address both struggling and advanced students?

Plentiful help is available but perhaps a bit too fussy. Accessibility is good with visual menus, but they can be hard to see because of lack of contrast.

Common Sense Reviewer
Leslie Crenna
About our ratings and privacy evaluation.

Key Standards Supported

Language

  • L.8.3

    Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

  • L.9-10.3

    Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

  • L.11-12.3

    Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

Reading Informational Text

  • RI.8.7

    Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums (e.g., print or digital text, video, multimedia) to present a particular topic or idea.

  • RI.11-12.7

    Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem.

Speaking & Listening

  • SL.8.5

    Integrate multimedia and visual displays into presentations to clarify information, strengthen claims and evidence, and add interest.

  • SL.9-10.2

    Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source.

  • SL.9-10.5

    Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.

  • SL.11-12.2

    Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) in order to make informed decisions and solve problems, evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source and noting any discrepancies among the data.

  • SL.11-12.5

    Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.

Writing

  • W.8.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

  • W.9-10.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.

  • W.11-12.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.

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Teacher Reviews

(See all 4 reviews) (4 reviews) Write a review
Featured review by
Michael G. , Classroom teacher
Classroom teacher
LinoIt - Great Brainstorming / Sharing tool for Desktops/Laptops, would not recommend for mobile devices
LinoIt is a great tool for brainstorming, and crowd-sourcing ideas for global projects. I use this tool on my desktop and laptop computer, but find it hard to recommend using it on mobile devices. ...
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