It seems like time is going faster and faster! March is upon us and before you know it, the school year's end will be here!
Today's entry is taken from Will Richardson's book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, and discusses creating, publishing, and using images online. If teachers and students are looking for a way to begin experimenting with creating and publishing content other than text, then digital photography is a great way to start! Digital cameras have come down in price over the years and most of us now have cameras on our cell phones. Software to edit and resize photos is available for free on the Internet, so it is easy for classrooms to include digital images to their sites, their blogs, etc.
Disclaimer - some photo editing Web sites are not available to schools due to image-blocking that has to take place because of CIPA, so consider this when utilizing them.
So, why would you want to post images in the first place? From a classroom view, it would be wonderful to share daily events or highlights with parents/guardians and the community at large. Pictures of field trips, guest speakers, art projects, concerts, sporting events - all are great ideas of what to share online.
One place to start is Flickr. Flickr is free as long as you meet their guidelines for publishing. It is simple to sign up for a Flickr account. Once you get an account, they suggest three steps - 1, personalize your profile; 2, upload your first photos; and 3, find your friends on Flickr. Once your profile is complete, you can begin uploading photos and videos. (Videos are limited to 90 seconds in length and 150 MB in file size.)
As you begin uploading, be aware the limit is 300 MB of photos and 2 videos for the free account. Also note that you can mark your photos/videos as Private or Public. Once you upload a photo, you can put a title on it, add a description, etc. The last part, finding friends, is just as easy as importing email contacts or using a Facebook account to add friends. If you have friends attached to your account, you can then mark your photos as Private and only allow your "friends" to see them.
Try Flickr and see how easy it is to use. Next week, I'll share some ideas of how you can use Flickr in the classroom.
