I've spent some time tonight looking around Flickr with particular interest in how it was being used by schools or how it may be used. It seems lots of the schools that I've seen using Flickr are simply posting images of different events etc. as a way for others to view their photos - almost like a yearbook - which is a great idea! Having spent several years working in a senior high school R.E department and going on countless retreats/reflection days/excursions etc. I can see the value in having a place on the net to post these images. It would save the endless requests by kids: "Miss! Can we please get copies of your photos?"
I can also imagine using Flickr to expand on a creative writing task I use to use both in class and as a reflection activity on retreats. The students were given a selection of photos and asked to choose one that was significant to them. It may have been an image associated with a unit of work we were studying or something more abstract. They then wrote a story/reflection based around this image. Previously, I'd used a selection of about fifty images I'd gathered and had printed and laminated on A4 sheets. Using Flickr, however, the selection of images would be somewhat increased! The biggest challenge this may pose is for the kids to actually choose an image: "Miss! I can't decide which one to use!! There are too many to choose from!!!". While looking around at the incredible number of applications and other things available, I found one that might be useful for this task. It's called Findr and can be found at http://www.forestandthetrees.com/findr/ It finds images relating to specific tags.
There are so many different things out there - from images to programs to video etc. etc. etc! It's just not physically possible to see it all let alone have the time to see how it all works, making it even more necessary than ever to work collaboratively with colleagues - continuing to share ideas and possibilities is vital to make the most of all that is available.
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You could use the pictures as stimulus. We have a number of RE units, for example, that used sets/series of photographs published under the title Photolanguage. Flickr could now allow you to create your own personal online "Photolanguage" sets for different tasks. Then, if you have a projector, they're easily displayed for everyone to see.
Yes - that's what I was talking about - using the images as stimulus. The images I used were often from the Photolanguage set but I found that the kids sometimes didn't 'associate' with any of the ones given (when were they published originally?!? I think we had the 'original' photolanguage set at TSC - lots of images of '70s fashion!) - so I'd tried to increase the collection myself. Having different collections for different purposes - great idea!
And yes! My data projector can be used for something other than the odd 'powerpointless presentation'! :-) (I think it needs a new bulb, though...)
Hi Judy, Glad you enjoyed findr. It would be great to have it used for education purposes. Please feel free to contact me w/ questions. You might also want to check out tagtree.net - there is a version of findr that will limit its search to a single flickr user. It's slow - but, might be of interest. Take care, Doug
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