Photo Sharing

Flickr
Slide
Photobucket

I have't used Photobucket in a while but I really like it. See below for explanation.

I already had accounts for Flickr (a photo sharing site) and Slide (site where you created slide shows) but I updated them and added new content. For Flickr, I added some photos of when I was in Chile. They are of the beach, the desert, and the city. I got carried away and uploaded a lot of pictures because you can choose a lot to upload at a time. I ran out of time and patience so I tagged many of them but not all. Speaking of tagging, if you think it is fun to tag you can play a Google Image Labeler game which will really help you to improve your tagging ability and could be a great way to pass by the time LOL! What I mean is I think about more words I could use besides just the obvious when tagging a picture.  It could also be a good vocabulary practice for ESL students. 

I also created a slide show with some of those pictures uploaded through Slide.com. Then I linked the slide show to my Facebook page. I used to create slideshows for my MySpace page but I’ve never done it for my Facebook page so I did that today. It wasn't the most intuitive application. First I clicked on embed. Then I copied the code but couldn't figure out how to get it into Facebook. So I went to the help page and it gave directions. It said there should be a Facebook link for me to click on but it wasn't there. So I played around with the site some more. I kept going to different pages until I finally came across a page where you click on embed and an actual Facebook icon appears. They should set it up so that anytime you click on embed that the different icons appear. Oh well.

Photo sharing sites such as Flickr are a very useful way to keep photos organized and share them with others. Slide is a great place to create slide shows. You can create some that are really gaudy with bright colors and sparkles or you can create a more “vanilla” slide show. They even have skins you can use for videos. You can embed their slides on a variety of websites and blogs. Using Slide is a great way to add dazzle to even the most boring pictures so it is a great tool to use in education, especially with middle and high school students. Just make it isn’t too bright or busy since that will distract learners and detract from the message.

If you want the best of both worlds check this out! In Flickr and Photobucket you can upload photos and edit them, share them, tag them, and search for more photos. On Flickr you can also leave comments. With Photobucket you can create slideshows with different backgrounds effects.

I also have an account for Photobucket but I haven’t updated it lately and I never use it but I really like it because it is like Flickr and Slide combined. You can organize photos and create dazzling slideshows all in the same place. These tools aren't just for "fun", they could also be used in education.

Here are a few teaching ideas for Photo sharing websites:

• Geography/History/Settings - If students are learning about an area of the world you can show pictures of that location and have them post comments.
• Science: Students could search for pictures that relate to what they are studying or you could have an album that illustrate concepts.
• Literature/creative writing/foreign language: Students could create stories using pictures you have chosen or they could write a story and choose pictures that illustrate it and create a slideshow.
• Scavenger Hunts: You could have scavenger hunts. If you are teaching vocabulary of any type, you can search for pictures that illustrate the word.