BL. (2010, October 14) Schools of the Future BL.’s photostream. Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/8Kw3y1
Using Flickr in the classroom is fairly new to me but looking at this photo I feel it can bring a lot to my classroom. Flickr in education allows for students to share their work in a creative way. The photo shared displays how the classroom is changing and continues to change with the help of collaborative learning environments and new technologies.
My students can benefit from Flickr in the following ways:
- A way to introduce themselves, great ice breaker sharing pics about them.
- Creative portfolios where students can capture end results of a project or even the steps taken to complete the project.
- Telling stories by taking action shots allowing for a set of pictures to tell you us what’s happening.
- A great way to share their completed work just as the photo above represented.
- Provides a way for students to illustrate their work. When having students blog students can use the photos acceptable with their blogs to draw people’s attention.
- Use a picture for students to make inferences on, for example, if picture shows someone covering their face in front of a laptop. Having students discuss photo and make inferences about it can open up for some great discussions about mental health.
I’m sure there are many other ways to incorporate Flickr in the classroom. As I began to dig a little more into how to use Flickr I came across a blog from education technology. The blog provides basic use and some practical ideas for use in the classroom. It also shares some videos that help show how to use it. Check out the link provided.
Mr. Kotansky's Blog 
Robert,
Your ideas for incorporating Flickr into your classroom are relative and creative. I especially liked your thoughts on incorporating the tool as a visual introduction and icebreaker, as well as using it as a prop for facilitating meaningful discussions.
After checking out the blog that you shared, I found my way to a website that highlights Flickr add-ons and enhancements. (https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/60-tools-to-enhance-your-flickr-experience/) Holy guacamole! Talk about options galore. One that I found to be beneficial was FlickrStorm. It is a way of searching through Flickr photos by subject or topic. My students would definitely need this in order to minimize distraction and endless scrolling.
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Robert,
I went to check out the blog you recommended also. I found the first comment really interesting about a group of teachers on Flickr sharing pictures with other teachers. It might be something to explore and see if it is beneficial.
There could be a lot of opportunities for using Flikr or a similar site for projects and discussion starters in health classes. I once used various photos as a writing exercize at the beginning of my language class. I would post a picture on my Smartboard, and students would take 5 minutes to free write on what the picture said to them. This might work very well when you are discussing mental health issues.
Mindy
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Robert,
In general, it seems like Flickr is a great way for students to share their work in a public setting. I’m curious, though, how it can be used for educational purposes other than students getting praise for their work, or using photos to enhance their projects. I just wonder how it would be beneficial to the learning process of their specific field of study. I’m sure it would be excellent for your elementary school students, especially to attract attention to certain topics with photos. It would make a great platform for students to collaborate on a project that requires a lot of visuals and feedback, like it seemed you were trying to mention in some of your points. When it comes to grabbing attention, I agree that Flickr is a great resource!
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Robert,
You gave clear and insightful uses of Flickr in the classroom, and you have a strong grasp of ways in which students can benefit from this tool. I personally didn’t use “Flickr” in my classroom. However, we use other creative commons resources when it comes to photo attribution. There are times when we are unable to use photos due to licensing. Have you used any other imaging tools in your classroom?
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Diana,
Truth be told I haven’t really used photos much in my classroom. Flickr has a lot of potential as a learning tool no doubt but haven’t experienced any other tools than that. Any general search engine with photos however can be used as long as you search under Creative Commons and give credit to where photo came from.
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