Classroom Use
Flickr in the Classroom
Flickr is an extremely flexible tool. It can be integrated into lessons in many subject areas for many different age groups. Flickr’s main functions are the storage, organization, and sharing of electronic photographs and video. This utilitarian service leaves open the possibility of a wide variety of uses in the classroom. I would consider Flickr more in line with productivity software or website than content software or website. The content can be anything. The content can be photographs shot by students, faculty, or community members. The content can be images found and reorganized into galleries. The collaboration through Flickr can be 2 students in a classroom or 20 students from all four corners of the planet. Because the general functions and global reach of Flickr, I believe any teacher in any classroom could find a use for Flickr.
Why should Flickr be used in the classroom?
Incorporating images into any lesson is a real benefit to the class and the individual students. Many abstract or complex concepts can be shown more efficiently through images than through words. Like the old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words”. Quite literally, the student will be able to see and comprehend details and relationships that could take a page of writing to effectively describe. Flickr enables the teacher to assign projects that can be personalized to each student. The student can take and upload specific photographs, or locate specific photographs in the global database contained in Flickr, based on their personalized needs for the assignment. Instead of asking the students to look through limited resources provided like magazines, stock images, or textbooks for visual aids, the student can really express their individuality through their photo selections. Because of the centralized storage and organizational features of Flickr, students and teachers can collaborate on projects sharing and combining several images of their own. All the uploading, downloading, organizing, and presenting can be done electronically. This saves time, energy, and resources.