iMages, Photos, and Art...Oh My!

Just like bar bands get Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird requests, I am always asked for image online libraries.  Many teachers like their clipart and here are my 5 (+1) suggestions for alternatives to clipart associated with computer applications.  Below you will find random images associated with each of my suggestions.  

As a tech coach, I have to be careful about using royalty-free images.  For one, I want to set a good example as a digital citizen, but also I don't want to fight an epic legal battle.  So, to get around just borrowing images from a quick Google Images search, I can use the following resources.

Open Clipart

OpenClipart is a free website filled with clipart that is free to use.  It's a great site for teachers looking for clipart to spruce up their Pages documents.  On this website, there are over 100,000 artist contributing to the free clipart and feeding elementary teacher's addiction to cute artwork.  

Pics4Learning

Pics4Learning allows teachers and students to access their library of "copyright-friendly" images.

National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art hosts a searchable warehouse of digital artwork.  This repository of images houses more than 25,000 from various artists.  Most of the images can be downloaded and reused for free, and this is a nice way to incorporate artwork into a class project.

PhotoPin 

The PhotoPin website allows bloggers to locate photos and makes the process of siting the photos easy.    PhotoPin searches Flickr for CreativeCommon photos for sharing within a blog post.  

Take your Own Photos

My biggest suggestion is to take your own photos and upload them to Picasa or Flickr.  Use a smartphone and send your photos to Instagram as a storage tool.  Then, allow your students to access your images or keep them as your own repository of generic tech, field trip, first day, project, or other themed photos to use when needed.

Make your Own Photos

Considering the suggestion just above this one, this might seem a little redundant.  But, I mean take photos using a device and use an app to make it unique to the project you are attempting to create.  Take a still shot with your iPhone and use an app to transform the image into what was needed.  For instance, turn yourself into a cartoon character with the My Cartoon app.  Create a comic book collage image with the app ComicBook.  Or just apply filters and effects with Pixlr Express+.

Here is an example of the process I am referencing.  The following image was taken from a video that I took from an Instagram video I made.  I used the app entitled Video 2 Photo to do this.   Then, I place the image into the app Over to add text and additional effects.

I had the Great Depression in mind when I made this one, and it could have been used for an iBook cover in an iTunes U course on this historical event.

So, the next time you are in need of the perfect image use the above resources or if you are a "rebel and a loner PeeWee" try to create your own images.  

#INeLearn

Keep an eye on #INeLearn over the summer for the Summer of eLearning supported by the Indiana Department of Education.  Here is a list of resources for the upcoming conferences.  Please feel free to add to this list of resources.

#INeLearn Feed

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Tweets about "#INeLearn"

Learn.ly

Here is a video overview and document to help explain the Learn.ly tool and how teachers can record commentary over students Google Documents.

Live.ly Overview

Engaging an Audience during a Presentation

I am big in attempting to engage an audience during a presentation.  I don't like to be the focus of a lecture.  I'm not egocentric.  Instead, the audience or learners should be able to do what they were meant to do, which is engage with the content being discussed/taught.

I wanted to talk about QikPad, which is a collaborative-online-word-processing tool.  Of course, there is Google Drive and you can share a Google Doc with everyone in the audience, but maybe you have been there and done that.  You want something similar, but slightly different.  Well then, try QikPad next time!

QikPad is an easy way to engage an audience, classroom, or small group in a collaborative document with its own unique URL.  I like how QikPad can be embedded into a blog post like the one below.  Additionally, I like how the document can be exported directly to Wordle to create a word cloud.  Again, a lot of this can be done in Google Drive, but still a cool tool to use when collecting responses or collaborating quickly.

photo credit: Xosé Castro via photopin cc

AnswerGarden - Classroom Response Collection

This is just a cool tool to use when collecting student responses.  Pose a question and allow students to respond.  Then, responses are displayed below the question.  If multiple students respond with the same answer, the response will display the number of people with the same response.  Just hover your mouse over the words to find out how my people came up with the same answer.

Overall, this is just a quick and informal way to check for understanding.  Answer my question about favorite web-based tool or app.  You can do so by typing your answer below or by clicking the link in the previous sentence.

What is your favorite web-based tool or app for the classroom?... at AnswerGarden.ch.