Using Flickr in the Classroom

 Using Flickr or other image-driven software can prove to be very useful in a classroom setting. These image-driven software’s can be used for projects that involve creating collages or finding information that is portrayed through pictures. All these images can be downloaded onto Flickr and shared between classmates and posted for teachers. Not only will the teacher be organized and grade the students work collectively, but the students can also see what other classmates are creating for the classroom. These pictures can also be set to a private setting so that only the people you allow can see and use your photos, making the use of Flickr all the more useful, because personal work can be protected in a classroom setting.

Here are some functions Flickr captures:

Flickr and Webimager “Lets you capture your entire screen, or just a portion, and auto-upload it to your account.”—This is helpful if the teacher is teaching a lesson and describing it on the computer screen.

Flickr Exporter for iPhoto “Edit photos, add tags, resize before loading and several other useful options.”—This is helpful when students are creating pictures for assignments that they might need to edit or change to fit the criteria for the assignment. 

Flickr Group Display “Easier group management.”—Since a classroom of students is also a group, this function that Flickr provides would be especially helpful for a teacher.

Copyright, Fair Use Policies, and Prezi

As future teachers, it is important to model appropriate citations and seek permission to use copyrighted work because we have to be an example and model that which what we teach. How do we expect others to follow the rules when we cannot follow them ourselves; we have to

“walk the talk.”

I also believe that as future teachers, we can practice how to act accordingly so that we may teach it accordingly. Plagiarizing and copying work and not citing is a punishable crime like stealing, and even if you do not get caught, the academic crime still stands.

When creating a presentation it is important not to bombard the audience with too many words or irrelevant images or information. It is important to understand the audience and how much they can take in and focus on new information.

In this chapter I grew aware of the definition of design. I really only thought that design comes last, after the information is on the slides it is time to butter them up and make them look appealing, but designing goes hand and hand with the information; it is used to make the information effective and easy to read and understand.

I also noticed in all of my previous power points, there was always bullet pointed information, and the chapter explains how we need to use bullet points sparingly—they are only effective when summing down information, which means there will not be a lot of bullets!

I also picked up on the ‘empty-space’ technique, which is just like white space in a technical document. You do not want to overwhelm the audience with clutter and words. Your job as the creator is to simplify information and make it easy for the audience to understand and retain it.

Overall I think it is important to understand your audience and use principals of single-verse-noise, contrast, repetition, alignment, proximity and design to make the power point comprehensible. 



My Revised PREZI
In my HE 415 class I studied water fluoridation so I decided to share my knowledge of the subject in my power point. Enjoy! 

Ms. Goloviznina's Website

I thought creating a website was going to be challenging but I was happy to find out how easy it was. I know blogs are a good tool but websites are just as beneficial and another way to present information to an audience, and in this case, parents.  

Here is my My Classroom Website it includes tabs for the students, parents, news, and websites I find helpful for education.

Websites

This website, Beanbag Learning, sets students up with tutors without the middleman in the way. It is a very direct way of obtaining help outside the classroom. The website makes it easy to choose a tutor based on your location and the subject you wish to have help on. There are descriptions under each tutor that explains their background information and what they are interested in teaching as well as how much it would cost to hire them.

 

In teaching, I could use this website for students that need more help in certain subjects. I could offer the parents to check out the website and perhaps get a tutor for their child during summer or even after school (either way that is a lot of school).

The webpage in general worked well, however I was a little puzzled after typing in my desired location, the tutors that came on the list were worldwide so it seemed pointless to ask for my location.

 

The website is intended for adults, specifically parents, and can be for any age student struggling in a subject. I didn’t go as far as to sign myself up for a tutor, however I am very curious how the process would look like.

Twistynoodle is a website intended for teachers and adults. Its purpose is to give access to coloring pages and handwriting practice worksheets that teachers and parents can then print and give to their students. The functions of this website met my expectations: it was simple and easy to navigate through different worksheets for boys and girls, as well as a large variety of seasonal worksheets.

In teaching I would use this website for younger students. The coloring pages can be used for students at the age of preschool and older and the handwriting practice worksheets can be introduced by kindergarten. These worksheets are helpful for fostering small motor skills the students need to acquire at the earlier stages of their lives, as well as learning how to handwrite.

Little Bird Tales https://littlebirdtales.com/ was an awesome website. I expected the website to have real books and tales that children read, however students can record and make their own tales and present them to their class. It really encourages creativity and the student’s self-expression through this interactive way of learning.

Even though this website is leaned more towards a younger audience, I feel like students as young as second grade until all through middle school can use this website. You can upload your own pictures to slides and record your voice and the audience will get to see your visuals and hear your narrations. You can also draw your own illustrations.

In teaching I can have my students use this website to present a project. This project can be about anything such as learning about states or places or even subjects such as science.