On Flickr

I know that I have mentioned before that while I am not a Technophobe I am slow to getting to know new technology. I hear all the time about a new “this or that” online that I just HAVE to check out. Sometimes I even AM interested but for whatever reason the thought flies out of my head before I get a chance to. This was the case with Flickr. I am kicking myself now for not having explored this before. I was under a false assumption (probably because of how it was presented to me) that it was another facebook-y site where I would be forced to look at endless pictures of friends and families kids, food, or much worse. Boy was I wrong! After poking around and doing a bit of research, the classroom possibilities for Flickr are endless! I really enjoyed what Will Richardson complied in, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for the Classrooms about possible uses for Flickr. A few of my favorites cover a wide range of subject areas such as:

• Collaboration/Analysis:Starting online class discussions (such as our ED270 W14 group this week) by adding comments under the photos the students work together to analyse and interpret photos and their meanings.
• Geography: Using Latitude and Longitude or Geotags to find photos taken at specific places (that you’ve been, that your studying, etc.) giving students a feel for locations in a whole new way
• Literature: Creating visual representations of literary works, such one suggestion that includes compiling the more “tag-able” words of a poem for an added dimension
• (and probably my favorite) Creative Writing: “flicktion” Students take a random photo on Flickr and craft a story around it. This gives students a virtually bottomless vat of ideas. I love love the idea!

These are just a few and there are many many more just a Google search away…Just remember to have your students credit the works original owner!