This is my first Flickr photo which I uploaded as part of a set. I found the uploading quick and simple to follow. Whilst in Flickr I chose to edit the photo and was taken to Picnik where I "auto-fixed" the photo and added a frame. I didn't do a lot of manipulating of the photo as I have done a lot of that in the past when I was designing web sites. However it's the first time I have edited a photo using an online site instead of special graphics software installed on my own computer. It is very useful and empowering to know that you can easily edit photos from any computer on the internet without special software.
Flickr and Picnik are another set of extremely useful and engaging technologies that we can add to our "toolbox" of resources that we have at our disposal and will help with answering question 4 of the eight learning management questions (Lynch, D 2006). A slide show of photos, along with a piece of inspiring audio would be a great way to "hook" your students into the lesson.
Flickr and Picnik are both tools that could aid with planning lessons that follow Kearsley & Shneiderman's Engagement Theory of occurring in a group context and are project based with an authentic "real world" focus. Consider a set of lessons where students work in groups and use a Wiki to document their project. Photos can help bring the real world into the classroom and the students could use Picnik to jazz up their photos before including them in their Wiki. The opportunities are endless.
References
Kearlsey, G. & Schneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved March 2010, from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm
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G'day Tina, I particularly liked what you wrote here about using Flickr and Picnik as an authentic focus. I could just imagine students of all ages being really engaged as it would be their pics that they would edit and that would make it very relavent for them and their world.
ReplyDeleteMichael Rhodes
Hi Tina,
ReplyDeleteI loved your idea of using a slideshow of photos as a hook at the beginning of a lesson. What a fab way to get the class' attention,
Cheers, Laura