Yet another distraction added into the course content!!
I love playing around with different images and changing the whole theme of the picture. I created my Flickr site with ease http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauras-pics/ and then uploaded my pictures. I found it very similar to the social network site facebook. I then easily edited these pictures by using Picnik. I have left the original picture on my flickr so you can see the difference. I had to stop myself from doing too many pictures and to concentrate on the course!!
Flickr would be another way for students and learning managers to interact with each other online. They can easily share ideas and photographs at a click of a button. A privacy setting can be put onto the pictures allowing only you to view your pictures, your family and/or your friends and the setting allowing anybody to see your pictures. This setting can be changed if you were to change your mind. Picnik would allow students to manipulate their images to create new and original designs. It allows them to become creative. During a project students will view things differently if they knew they would be able to manipulate the image.
The only negative in using these image manipulators is that people can change their own image to how they want to be. Photoshop is a brilliant tool to use to change images. You can make yourself skinny, change the colour of your eyes, remove freckles, spots. Basically you can make yourself look ''perfect!'' This I do not like. When social networking sites are so so popular children can easily manipulate and change their own image to suit this online society. It is crazy but also I find it quite upsetting that they feel they have to change their image for other people and to gain positive talk from peers. It may make them feel happy at the time to see people commenting on their fake image but in reality that is not them. We have to teach children to respect and accept people in society no matter how they may look!!
Anyway back onto the subject which was Flickr and Picnik. They are great tools and would be easily adapted to a classroom environment. This technology is what our students are being brought up with and we must keep up to date and allow the technology to help us teach!!
Posts
Hi Laura
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, that Flickr and Picnik are great tools and that they can be easily adapted to the classroom environment. I do feel that, like Facebook and other social networks that the site should be monitored. Because as you have said above, it is too easy to manipulate a photo to make yourself as a perfect image, however fake.
Hi Laura,
ReplyDeleteI agree, Flickr would be a great resource for students to use in their learning but I am concerned that overly strict filtering will prevent students from accessing Flickr and other free photo sites. I have witnessed students' frustration in this regard.
Cheers
Meryl
Hello
ReplyDeleteI think that all the sites nowadays are based very similarly (not too sure if that is actually a word)to one another such as the social networking sites. But that makes them quite easy to use as they are all based on a similar concept.
That is true Meryl, I guess within your classroom you are the judge as to whether your students are mature enough to be able to sit down and do their work without getting distracted or abuse the internet.
: )