10.2: Web 2.0: Photo Sharing: Flickr (or, Instagram, if you like)

Web 2.0: Photo Sharing: Flickr (or Instagram, if you like)

Flickr.  I’ve had students use it innumerable times.  Photo Sharing.  That’s it, I though – so??  What’s the big deal?

I saw it being used by my students, but never really understood what it could be used for in the classroom – until now.  I always saw it as merely a way to present pictures to others using an app.  Once I had set up my Flickr account and dug into what it could really do, my mind was blown!

I immediately made an album for my Social Studies class that I occasionally teach: “Ancient Civilizations, Rome and Greece.”  Yearly, I would bring in artifacts from those time periods to share with my students - pictures on Flickr:  https://flic.kr/s/aHsmjHvL5r.  I have many thousands invested in them as they are the real deal.  Students tend to drop, mishandle, and on occasion, break them as they are quite curious as to what they are and want to inspect them more closely.  Flickr strengthens and takes this lesson to the next level by providing students with a means of seeing this artifact close-up as well as zooming in to see details they would normally have to handle the artifact to see.  If absent, students can continue to be part of the class and see what we see and gather information.

But this is only the beginning.  The two things I really liked were tagging and annotating!  Each picture was given several tags to sort them better – by year, topic, or civilization.  Additionally, each artifact was annotated so students can actually see detailed information on them!  By utilizing Flickr, I can bring the hardiest of the artifacts in without worrying about them being broken, and supply annotated, tagged pictures for the frailest artifacts. 

And then there is more!  Students can become authentic researchers!! I can have students go out and find pictures of artifacts on the web, and put them in the album and expand the library of pictures for a time period with the requisite information, tags, and annotations.  Shared learning and presenting to the class.

Much like a Wiki, I envision Photo Sharing as a way for students to research information, and construct their own knowledge base by investigating what they have interest in, and sharing what they have learned with others.

Link to Photo Share Site on Flickr:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmjHvL5r

ISTE Standard Met:

Empowered Learner, Digital Citizen, Knowledge Constructor, Creative Communicator and Global Collaborator

Common Core State Standards Met (CCSS):

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.7: "Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos or maps) with other information in print and digital texts."

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7: "Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words."

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1: "Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively."

In addition to the above, this lesson would satisfy several CCSS regarding research and presentation skills!