Playing with Picnik

Well, I started out this little Picnik journey confused and subsequently frustrated but all is calm, I have done it. I have uploaded a favourite photo of mine into Flickr that has been modified to my personal liking lol. As I began to play, the pieces all came together for me. I must admit it took me some time to navigate my way around the site but it was interesting, the more I manipulated the more engaged I became thinking about what else I could do. (My own little personal experience of the power of engagement in learning). By the end, I was having a ball and can’t wait to have more spare time, after this course, to play. I would imagine kids would love to play in Picnik too.

In an educational context, digital images would most frequently be used by teachers to introduce a topic to create a discussion. This would give the teacher an insight to what the students already know and how to extend that knowledge. The pedagogical framework to apply would be See, Think, Wonder. Asking the students open-ended questions about the image could progress them through Bloom’s Taxonomy to higher-order thinking of analyzing and creating. I would definitely consider using it in a history or geography context.

Plus: Digital images bring the world into the classroom.
Cameras are easily accessible to students and can be shared.
Capture images of excursions to be used in report or recounts
Inexpensive to produce

Minus: Students need to be informed of code of ethics when using images
Copyright issues

Interesting: A picture can be unwrapped and used in so many different ways, according to topic and age of students.