Chapter 7: Blogs, Wikis, & Podcasts

 Before I read Chapter 7: Fun With Flickr, all I really knew about Flickr was that it is a photo-sharing website. I was even a little confused as to how a photo-sharing website, such as Flickr, could be incorporated into the classroom. I soon learned there are several ways Flickr could be used in the classroom. One of the things that I found would be helpful in Flickr was the annotation feature. I learned that you can add notes to any part of the picture using this feature. This could be a helpful tool in the classroom because notes can be attached right to the picture on the object of the notes. One example used in the book was for dissections. Teachers could post a picture of the animal and attach notes right on the picture. Another part of Flickr discussed in the chapter was the ability to share online discussions. I didn't know photo-sharing websites had this aspect. I think online discussions on pictures could be a great tool to use in the classroom since pictures could be made private. This way, the picture and discussion could be limited to your classroom. On the other hand, another great aspect of Flickr is it's ability to connect people around the world. This could be helpful in the classroom because students could find pictures from all parts of the world. For example, if a student was doing a project on a different country, they could simply type that country in and find several pictures from that country. I think using Flickr in the classroom would be an effective way to organize lessons (such as the dissection picture) as well as use as resource for students. I learned that Flickr has a lot more to it than just sharing photos. I think Flickr would be a great resource for upper elementary school grades through high school, but not so much for the earlier grades. Although, as a future early childhood educator I could use Flicker to post pictures of whats going on my classroom for students and parents see.