Post #1 Photosharing (EDES 501)

Reflections on the Process of Learning About the Tool

I was fairly confident diving into the abyss of the Photosharing tool. I considered myself fairly savvy when it came to sharing photos online. I had after all uploaded pictures, ordered prints, and created and purchased some photo albums, greeting cards and a photo blanket through Kodakgallery.

After following the trailfire on photosharing though, watching the short commoncraft video and reading through the text on Wikipedia, I came to realize I have only experienced a very miniscule aspect of online photosharing. Actually, I had not really "shared" my photos online via Kodakgallery with my friends and family. Instead of sharing the albums I created through email or a blog, I actually sent the albums and cards to family as gifts. Where they probably now sit on book shelves, in drawers, or (argh) in the garbage can, as was pointed out in the commoncraft video.

As I reflect on my own learning I realize there is so much more I need to learn, explore and play with. My confident feelings I felt in the beginning soon gave way to feelings of "holy cow", "oh my god", "this is really easy", and "this is really hard"!

Discussion of the Tool in Terms of my Own Personal Learning

My own personal learning with the photosharing tool has been tremendous. As I mentioned above I had only really used the Kodakgallery site, and even then had not actually shared my photos online. I had heard of Flickr but never visited the website. After watching the commoncraft video I checked out Photobucket and Webshots as well, but did spend the majority of my time exploring Flickr.

The Wikipedia page on Photosharing had a lot of information, history and links that led to some fairly overwhelming moments. At one point I had clicked on so many links and had gotten so far off topic that I ended up on a page about Dan Brown's novel, Angels & Demons. I believe Berners-Lee was employed at CERN when he created the World Wide Web, which is where much of the novel takes place. At this overwhelming "how did I get here" moment, I could definitely relate to how students might feel when taking on a similar assignment.

Start small. Will Richardson's advice when beginning your own blog. (Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts p. 44) I think his advice here will be the basis for beginning exploration of all the Web 2.0 Tools for me personally. I tend to be the kind of learner that wants to know everything immediately, and want things to be perfect the first time. Therefore, it can take me awhile to form my thoughts and ideas, which enables my initial excitement to transform into anxiety and frustration. I truly believed I would have all my images and videos saved on my computer, cd's, and external hard drive uploaded, organized, and shared with family and friends instantly. That didn't exactly happen. After creating a Yahoo ID, signing up for Flickr, and trying to change my icon buddy (which hasn't happened as every file I chose was too big) I was able to upload 26 images. That's it - 26 images! I quickly learned there is a monthly quota of images and video you are able to upload. Although the steps were fairly straight forward, I find it still takes me some time to read through and play with all the information. I did manage to configure my blog with Flickr and can now blog a photo directly from Flickr to my own blog. I spent A LOT of time trying to share the set of photos I created on Flickr with my blog in the form of a slideshow, but was unsuccessful.

Although I have learned which seems like a lot, in regards to photosharing, specifically using Flickr, I do realize that it offers much more than just a place to upload and store photos. I still need to spend some time exploring features of Flickr such as social networking, online interaction and images, and forming groups for discussion or gaming purposes (Web 2.0 for Schools, p. 36). My next goal for Flickr is to find other "Flickrites" to add to my contact list. I searched for a couple of my friends that I believed were on Flickr, but did not find them.

Discussion of the Tool in Terms of Teaching and Learning

In terms of my professional teaching and learning, I believe the pros of using or exploring Flickr in the classroom definitely surpass the cons. In Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts, Richardson suggests that experimenting with digital photography in the classroom is within most schools' grasp. Most schools, in my District, own or have access to a digital camera. At Haldane Elementary it is usually a small group of grade seven pupils that are responsible for travelling around the school on special days, including sporting events, dress-up days, assemblies, band performances, air bands, etc., to capture the images to display around the school. These students know how to upload the photos from the camera onto a computer and print them off. I am fairly certain that elementary-aged students would be absolutely engaged and excited if given the opportunity to take photos, upload them and explore the world of Flickr. Beyond photosharing with friends and families, students could "invite other people from around the globe to have discussions about the images," and "could become a part of a community that contributes images of similar topics." (Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts p. 99)

Immediately what comes to mind is the Green Kids Club that was created and maintained by a teacher at Haldane Elementary who is very committed to sustaining the environment. She has led our school to the number one spot in the Nation for Green Schools and is currently working towards attaining Earth 5 Global Status. I can envision using Flickr as a form of social interaction through images and text with the Green Kids Club. Furthering their cause by connecting with others from around the globe who are also passionate about saving Mother Earth. Images combined with text can be a very powerful way to share knowledge and learn from one another. The learning is engaging and meaningful, and in this example (Green Kids Club) very relevant.

The example given in our text on page 38 describes how a primary teacher used Flickr with her class to capture images of the growth of plants from seeds. Another fairly user-friendly example of the positive impact Flickr could have being used within the classroom to engage and excite students as they can literally watch the growth of plants as they add images and text to their photostream.

I do see myself exploring and playing with Flickr to become a real "Flickrite". I can envision the numerous possibilities of utilizing Flickr within the classroom, but do need to become more of an expert first.