Flickr – Student Learning by Associating Categories (Tags)

There are several Flickr programs that allow you and your students to find tags associated or clustered with the initial tag you searched for.

Flickstorm sorts by topic rather quickly – bottom half has tags
http://www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm/

Airtight Interactive Type in a term, see images about the term and see connections
http://www.airtightinteractive.com/projects/related_tag_browser/app/

Tagnautica shows the associated tags and images (my favorite visual association so far)
http://www.quasimondo.com/tagnautica.php

Flickr clustering allows for clustering of ideas so that “bill” can be clustered in numerous ways. Type in the tag and then click on cluster
http://flickr.com/photos/tags/bill/clusters

This can be a great educational game for your students. You think of a tag like ice for your science unit and then you ask the students to list all the related tags (categories) that they can think of. Then type “ice” into one of the above and compare the tags to the students. Have the students determine which are science categories and which are non-scientific categories. This type of inference thinking helps to broaden the students’ thinking and helps them to think in terms of connections instead of one isolated term. They have to compare and contrast tags.

So how do you have you students develop tag (category) building through Flickr?

 

© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007

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No more Technology Integration Teachers: Need Learning Specialists Instead

This year I am helping to improve student learning through technology in a city school district. My emphasis is on improving student learning. However, when I go to schools, I often hear

“My printer does not work.”

“You can teach us a technology.”

“What application do you want to teach them?”

“Let’s give them a workshop on PowerPoint”

“When will you come in my classroom and teach my kids how to use digital cameras?”

Unfortuately, for many teachers “technology integration” refers more to the mechanics of technology than improving students learning through technology.

I propose that we get rid of the term “technology integration teacher”and”computer lab teacher” and replace them with the more meaningful terms of “learning specialists” or “literacy specialists” (thanks to Andy Y. and Roger S. from the Ithaca City School District for the literacy focus).

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© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007

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