Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Flickr in the Classroom

After my last post on photo sharing, I had to do some more research! Since Flickr since is relatively new to me, I did not know all of the ins and outs. I discovered that you can also upload videos as well! Here's a video, not educational in the least bit, but I wanted to try it out. The uploading process was simple, but even a 30 second video took a few minutes. YouTube is definitely faster with their downloads!

I also discovered that while Flickr claims to be unlimited, that free account users are in fact limited to 300 MB of images and 2 videos each month. If you are going to sign up for Flickr you also want to make sure that you are going to use the account because after 90 days of inactivity, your account will be deleted! Pro account users obviously have more unlimited options because they are paying for the service.

While Flickr is definitely a photo sharing site, it is also billed as a social network. Their are communities on Flickr where users can connect with each other to share photos, make comments, and meet new people. There is also the ability to add Flickr pages to your RSS feed! 

Flickr could have some classroom and telecollborative uses, but I think that posts by other teachers and students would have to be monitored carefully. Students can not only take and upload pictures, but also edit pictures through the Picnik photo editing application within Flickr. Some classroom and telecollaborative ideas for Flickr include:
  • students taking pictures to add into an online storybook, such as Storybird
  • students taking and sharing pictures around the world based on themes such as family, community, holidays, health & nutrition, etc...
  • students/teachers taking pictures to share with students so that they can write about them using a Blog or a Wiki
  • students taking an object/pet home to take pictures and describe their experience...i.e. Flat Stanley project
  • uploading video from a Flip camera or other device to edit and begin putting together a movie
While monitoring what is uploaded could take a great deal of time, Flickr provides both students and teachers with an easy way to upload, edit, organize, and share their photos and videos. I am not sure Flickr is the best idea that's out in cyberspace, it's a great start and it's fairly user-friendly!

On a side note, combining web 2.0 applications, you can even find Flickr on Twitter! Don't forget that if Flickr is not for you that you can try Snapfish, photobucket, Picassa, SmugMug or Shutterfly.

2 comments:

  1. Leslie,
    I think that you illustrated the points about the downsides of some of the features very well. If you don't stay on top of your uploads they can be deleted is something that would be very important to know and remember. There is always that "hook" that these free sites offer that in the end if you really want to get the full benefit out of that you need to, in the end, cough up that cash. Snapfish and photobucket and picassa oh my!

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  2. Les,
    Great ideas on how to incorporate flickr into your classroom. I think it would apply to your students who enjoy technology and those that consider themselves artistic as well. Good points!

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