Flickr Tools

The tools I chose to play with were the Mosaic Maker, Jigsaw Puzzle and AlphaLearner. The tools were fairly easy to manipulate. I had a lot of success with Mosaic Maker and AlphaLearner but every time I uploaded a photo with Jigsaw Puzzle the puzzle was completely black. I will have to spend some time on this to perfect it. I love the tools and I will always love a challenge. I especially liked how they were all linked to Flickr – made that part a little easier. I have limited time right now so only spent a couple of hours playing but I plan to use them in the future which will demand additional "mass" quantities of hours spent seated right here!! There are soooo many tools listed I could spend the next month on this alone – but, alas, I do have to get up in the morning. I saw many other tools I am anxious to try.

There are numerous ways to use these tools in the classroom. One obvious use would be with Alpha Learner tool and the SEI kids. They can select a letter and up pops a word that begins with the letter and a filmstrip of pictures that align with the word. Very cool!!

Flickr photos

• Well! This was experiential learning at it finest!! I started with uploading a ton of pictures from a recent camping trip. I then decided, rather than to bore everyone with a million and 1 pictures of my granddaughters, I would delete those and upload more scenic pictures from a trip to Lake Powell. I did not realize that when you delete pictures they still count in your “allocated space” for our free accounts – and after uploading one scenic shot I was out of room. SO!! I proceeded to create a different account [oh boy! I used a different username/logon and pray that I don’t forget that one] and then uploaded my five scenic shots. It was a very straightforward process – I just didn’t realize we were limited.
• Students could easily use this for their projects if they were only able to access it at school. There are so many times that teachers require pictures to be included in their projects. This would eliminate them having to bring the photos on a disc, thumb drive or emailing them to themselves. I love this tool! We have to protect our students so my main concern would be that they may access content that is inappropriate. They address this very well in their Community Guidelines but it seems there is always someone that doesn’t play by the rules.
• I will definitely use Flickr in my personal life. I may have to upgrade, though, as I am heavy with the finger on the camera button. My theory there is too much is way better than little or no photos!! [grandkids comprise 90% of them!!]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/barbsaunders