Photo Sharing Tools

Deciding where to store your photos to share with friends and family might be confusing.  Do I choose a free service, a pay service?  Is it safe and secure?  What are muy options?  What privacy settings are available?  With any of the sites suggested below, take time to read through the settings and choose options that you are comfortable sharing.


Free Photo Storage:
Picasa

Use the Settings link in Picasa Web Albums to change settings.

Snapfish

Flickr


Photo Storage for a Fee:
SmugMug offers users a place to store their photos with privacy.  Share photos with others via e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, or embed them on a blog.  Create a customized page with your photos and videos. SmugMug identifies itself as being "Like Fort Knox for your photos."  Smugmug offers unlimited photo uploads of JPG, GIF and PNG files and backs up of all file types (for a fee).  Advanced privacy settings allow you to password protect your entire SmugMug site, including telling search engines to ignore you.  Try it for free and then decide if you want to pay to keep SmugMug as a Basic ($40/yr), Power ($60/yr), or Pro ($150/yr) user.

Phanfare is a place you can upload photos and videos, create slideshows, share photos on Facebook, and Twitter and display photos and videos on your iPhone or Android phone.   New photos you take on your iPhone can upload automatically to Phanfare (free app at the App store).  Users have their own URL at Phanfare and sharing does not require viewers to register.  Video uploads are limited to 2 GB per file.  Start a free trial and then decide if you want to continue under a Phanfare plan ($29/yr), Premium plan ($99/yr) or Pro plan ($199/yr).

Image Editing Sites:

Picknik - http://www.picnik.com/
Features (as outlined on the Picknik site):

• Fix your photos in just one click
• Use advanced controls to fine-tune your results
• Crop, resize, and rotate in real-time
• Tons of special effects, from artsy to fun
• Astoundingly fast, right in your browser
• Awesome fonts and top-quality type tool
• Basketfuls of shapes from hand-picked designers
• Works on Mac, Windows, and Linux
• No download required, nothing to install

Creating Books, Cards and more
Blurb

MagCloud

HP Photo Creations
Download free software to create photo books, calendars, collages and more.  Print at home or order items to be shipped to you.

Learning How to Use Photoshop:
Visit this vimeo site where PhotoShop for Kids (of all ages) shares videos on creating using PhotoShop.

SpeakUp 2010 Report

The Speak Up 2010 Report is now available.  The report titled, The New 3 E's of Education: Enabled, Engaged, Empowered - How Today's Students are Leveraging Emerging Technologies for Learning, presents the findings from the 2010 Speak Up survey of K-12 students and parents.  Three key trends were addressed in the survey:  mobile learning, online and blended learning, and e-textbooks.

Link:
http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/pdfs/SU10_3EofEducation_Students.pdf

In addition, Student Vision 2015, is also available:  http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/pdfs/Student%20Vision%202015%20(SU10).pdf
This 2-page document provides a sampling of student responses from the Speak Up 2010 Project.  Students predict what school will be like in 2015.

Eight Tips to Engage Your Students

The following information was shared with me and I am reminded that there are ideas that we need to return to, reflect upon and consider as we go about our business of educating our students. From the ASCD 2011 Conference website:

Eight TIps to Engage Your Students

"We cannot use the excuse 'I've always done it this way,'" said speaker Laura Erlauer Myrah.

In the session "Instructional Tips to Tell Teachers," Laura Erlauer Myrah provided eight tips for educators and teachers to engage their students and allow them to remember concepts taught in class. The eight tips cover categories such as the body and brain, movement, emotional environment, collaboration, relevant learning, enriched environment, and Net Generation learners.

Tips that can be used in the classroom: 

1. Body and Brain 

• Open windows 
• Have plants in classrooms 
• Allow your students to have water bottles 
• Educate parents and students regarding the need for adequate sleep 

2. Movement 

• Ask your students to stand instead of raising their hands 
• Questions around the room 
• Clapping rhythms 
• New location for important material 

3. Emotional Environment 

• Make every student feel unique and secure 
• Meet and greet 
• Give recognition 
• Listen and show interest 
• Expect respect from all 
• Relationships transcend everything 
• Emotions and memory

4. Collaboration 

• Collaborative learning/projects 
• Pair and share (tell students to talk to classmates and practice answers) 
• Connections with other levels 
• Connections with community 

5. Relevant Learning 

• Make the relevance obvious to students 
• Make it interesting and fun through your delivery 
• Experience learning 

6. Enriched Environment 

• Challenging problem solving 
• Physical classroom 
• You can play music during tests or writing 
• Use of music: a. Primer; b. Carrier; c. Arousal/Mood 

7. Assessment and Feedback 

• Know it well 
• Remember it always 
• Use it readily 

8. Net Generation Learners 

• Youth don't see working, learning, collaborating, and having fun as separate experiences. 
• They believe in, and want, these experiences occurring simultaneously in school and in future careers. 
• This generation wants to problem-solve and innovate. 

Source:  http://www.ascd.org/conferences/annual-conference/conference-daily/2011-eight-tips.aspx