Photo Sharing as a Classroom Tool

There are plenty of photo sharing sites out there. In this post, I will summarize three products, Picasa, Shutterfly, and Flickr, according to ease of use and my experience with them and how to apply photo sharing in the classroom. An advantage to all photo sharing sites is that you do not have to store photos on your computer, taking up large quantities of file space.

I have used Picasa for years; however, recently I have run into some issues that make it difficult. For example, it used to be easy to create a folder or album and upload your photos to it. Now I find duplication errors and sometimes the photos end up in another album. It is easy to share and maintain your privacy using Picasa. It has a feature that lets you email a link to your album to your friends and family and you can set your privacy so that only persons with the link can view it. Another great feature is the built-in editor. You can remove red eye, change the tint, sharpen features, and add effects among the many tools offered. Then you can save the changes in your album. If you as a teacher want to share photos as a penpal project, this would be perfect as the privacy settings allow you to be flexible. NETS-S standard 2 would apply here as students use digital media to communicate at a distance. Fifth grade on up would be able to use this tool.

Shutterfly not only allows you to store photos and share but I like their feature for creating hard covered books using your photos and your text. Of course, now many photo sharing sites have jumped on the bandwagon with this feature and you can even find hard bound book services discounted at some online at sites such as Costco, if you have a membership. Our family celebrated our parents’ 60th anniversary with a huge surprise party at a casino. We asked the guests to share their photos and my husband and I selected the best shots and created a hard bound book as a keepsake. Creating a class book for a special occasion such as a graduation year would not only allow students to have a voice in their yearbook, but would help them construct meaning as well as develop a lasting memory of sharing through photos and text.  NETS-S standards 1, 4, 6.

Until this week, I had only poked around on Flickr. From time to time a colleague would share something that was done on Flickr and I put it on my ‘some day I’ll try it’ list after just seeing the opening screen. I have a Yahoo email account, the parent company of Flickr, so it was easy to set up an account. I found the tools straightforward and in no time I was photostreaming some pictures I took last fall of our dog and a deer in our yard who connected for about a ten minute period. I ended up using that sequence of still shots to teach third grade students how to write a digital story using PhotoStory 3, a free download, from Microsoft. In my previous post, I shared my photos on Blogger along with part of the video. My original video is around 4 minutes. If you post a video on Flickr there is a 90 second limit, thus cutting off the ending of my video. Blogger allowed me to post a bit longer video, 2 minutes and 3 seconds. Still it is enough to give you the feel of how you could use such a tool in the classroom. Not only adding your voice to your blog but your photos as well lends a creative depth that allows many students the freedom to express themselves on any topic with multiple ways to share. Flickr’s ease of use could bring its value down to the third grade. Posting short videos such as an advertisement for a show on a battle in history using Flickr could make history come alive for students. Of course, you can also change your privacy settings on Flickr to suit your needs if student faces were involved in the video. NETS-S 1, 2, 3, 4, 6.