Website review by Patricia Monticello Kievlan, Common Sense Education | Updated May 2021
Sutori
Common Sense Selection
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Sutori

Build timelines, embed media with cool storytelling tool

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Learning rating
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Community rating
Based on 40 reviews
Privacy rating
Not yet rated Expert evaluation by Common Sense
Grades
6–12
Subjects & Skills
English Language Arts, Social Studies, Communication & Collaboration, Creativity
Great for
Media Literacy, Creating Media, Assessment, Presentation
Price:  Free, Paid
Platforms:  Website
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5 images
Sutori is a tool for building and sharing digital timelines.
Sutori (formerly HSTRY) was originally developed for social studies teachers, but it's adaptable for any subject.
The starting tutorial has great tips for using the site's flexible features.
Teachers can create their own timelines or browse premade templates, including user-submitted content and developer-produced timelines.
Timelines can feature quiz questions and embedded media, including links, images, and videos.

Pros: Students can add a range of media, and the simple visual design helps make complex ideas more approachable.

Cons: You'll likely need to upgrade to a premium account. Some design tweaks aren't available (e.g., background color). Pre-built timelines can vary drastically in depth and quality.

Bottom Line: With a super-simple design and tons of flexible features, this is an appealing and intuitive way for teachers and students to organize and share class content.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Sign up for a free account and test-drive the features to see what might work for your classroom. The premade stories and templates include some excellent details and embedded resources, and it's worth spending the time to dig in and find content that might be relevant to your classroom. The wealth of embedded media here offers an interesting opportunity to explore media literacy. Teachers could encourage students to compare how different items of embedded media in a timeline portray the same issue or events. How does one author's portrayal of events differ from another author's account of the same event? How is that important?

Also, check out whether this might be a good format for collaborative work. Consider inviting students to create a Sutori timeline as they review for a history exam or recap the plot of a short story or novel. These timelines could offer students a visual way to organize a series of links to related documents for a document-based question, or a collection of videos or images about a particular event. Encourage students to use the timeline format to build their own multimedia-rich stories to present to their classmates. The great thing about Sutori is that the finished products feel more like social media than PowerPoint, so they could connect better with students and encourage them to think creatively.

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Standards:

Sutori (formerly HSTRY) is a web-based tool for creating and sharing interactive timelines and presentations. It was originally geared toward history classes, but it's since been repositioned as a tool to develop interactive stories. The developer's premade stories are mostly traditional timelines (users scroll down to navigate through them like a social media feed or webpage), but the community contributions cover all subject areas and range from presentations of knowledge to organizing daily schedules for classrooms.

To get started, teachers can create classes and send students codes to access shared timelines and create their own. A starter template walks users through the creation process, and the timelines are easy to edit and share. There are tons of options for adding content to the timeline (some only by subscription), including text, images, videos, links, quiz questions, and more. The site's free subscription includes basic features for sharing, collaboration, and student management; paid features include more options for embedding content, analyzing student work, and using premade, standards-aligned content and templates.

This is a tool that makes timeline creation -- and presentations -- feel fresh and new. It's terrific that teachers can embed primary source media directly on the timeline and surround those posts with multiple-choice questions and discussion prompts. And it's also terrific that students can collaborate in real time to create their own timelines. For teachers, building your own timeline with this tool might be as simple as adapting an existing outline or slide deck to this new format, but  the simple, visual presentation style here has great potential for helping students make connections. Though some of the user-generated stories are uneven, the developer-created stories are solid, and they're a good starting point for creating your own standards-aligned lessons and activities. Just be aware that it's easy during the free trial to get hooked on the paid features, so if Sutori clicks for you, it's likely going to require an annual subscription. Also, while the tool is exceptionally well designed, it still would be nice to see some further customization -- for instance, more color and theme options.

Overall Rating
Engagement

Scrolling through these slick timelines feels like social media -- in a good way. It's easy for students to navigate teacher-created timelines and create their own.

Pedagogy

Embedded questions provide immediate feedback, and flexible features give students endless ways to present and tell stories. Built-in timelines include standards-aligned lesson plans.

Support

The site walkthrough and help tools are stellar, and the design isn't busy with high contrast. It'd be nice if students could more easily track their progress and favorites.

Common Sense reviewer
Patricia Monticello Kievlan Foundation/nonprofit member
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Key Standards Supported

Reading History/Social Studies

  • RH.6-8.6

    Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author’s point of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts).

  • RH.6-8.7

    Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.

  • RH.6-8.3

    Identify key steps in a text’s description of a process related to history/social studies (e.g., how a bill becomes law, how interest rates are raised or lowered).

  • RH.9-10.6

    Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts.

  • RH.9-10.7

    Integrate quantitative or technical analysis (e.g., charts, research data) with qualitative analysis in print or digital text.

  • RH.9-10.1

    Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.

  • RH.9-10.3

    Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them.

  • RH.11-12.6

    Evaluate authors’ differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors’ claims, reasoning, and evidence.

  • RH.11-12.7

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

  • RH.11-12.9

    Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.

  • RH.11-12.1

    Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.

  • RH.11-12.3

    Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.

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Community Rating

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Featured review by
Rosellen M. , Classroom teacher
Classroom teacher
Great interactive site for teachers and students alike!
I enjoy using Sutori and creating my own "stories". My overall opinion is that it is a wonderful teaching tool. It helps me to provide some information, but then pause and allow the students to then become the investigators, the researchers, and the experts. In addtion, sometimes you need to change things up, make things interactive and visually appealing for the students. Sutori is a great platform for that! It can serve my students and my style of teaching better than some of the other platforms out ...
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