Lesson Plan Using Flickr

The searching process about Flickr allowed me to know several interesting resources, but there was one that deemed my attention; the name of the article is “NYC Helpline: How to: Incorporate Technology in the Classroom – Using flickr.com in the Classroom-”. Pamela AuCoin, its author, emphasizes the importance of this photo-sharing database and makes a special mention about its most outstanding features and among the other highlights, that it is not just a great place to find images but that invites student collaboration and participation. “Students can embed comments on the image itself. This is where the students do some real analysis—they can add text in the image, using either the notes or description features.” (Retrieved on February 13, 2010 from http://www.teachersnetwork.org/NTNY/nychelp/technology/flickr.htm)

Ms. AuCoin suggest to follow five sequential steps to build incorporate Flickr in the classroom:

1. “Get a flickr account and create your own class page.
2. Instruct students to get their own flickr accounts. Get your students’ flickr email addresses, and send their invitations to join your site.
3. Begin by uploading pictures on your group page. Once you model this skill to the students, they usually catch on very quickly. Show them how to embed comments. Once they click to enlarge an image, they can click on the “add note” tab. Then write your sample comment. Model how to embed comments.
4. Project sharing.
5. Connecting to the content.”

I definitely would add some marvelous things that are possible to implement with flickr, for example:

To teach the students the possibility to make slideshows; to build a Photographic calendar, but also there are three very interesting applications that definitely would represent a plus in the learning process: FlickGraph, that is an application that explores the social relationships; Color Fields Color Picker, that displays photos based on the color the person selects and Flickr World Map (http://www.trippermap.com), using this application it is possible to position the photos in the place of the world they were taken, allowing the creation of map of photos.

The last described applications would represent the possibility to build a better-structured program, besides the additional motivation for the students, especially if the program is developed in both multi ethnic and multicultural ambience.


Reference

Aucoin, P. NYC Helpline: How to: Incorporate Technology in the Classroom – Using flickr.com in the Classroom Retrieved on February 13, 2010 from http://teachersnetwork.org/NTNY/nychelp/technology/flickr.htm

Images

Screenshot of http://teachersnetwork.org/NTNY/nychelp/technology/flickr.htm