Week 5 Response Photo Sharing

1) How might you incorporate photo sharing into an educational activity or unit? What might be some concerns you would have about allowing students play with these services? What might be a great benefit of such services?

There are a number of applications for a photo sharing website in the classroom. I could see this being used very effectively in a foreign language class. Students are often required to remember different words and their meanings. I know that one unit that was difficult for me when I took Spanish was learning the different emotions. Students could use photo sharing to take pictures of themselves or friends displaying a variety of emotions. They could then place tags on those pictures that are both in English and Spanish that explain what emotion is being displayed.

In science classes, students could take pictures of their experiments in different stages, place appropriate tags to go with the pictures, then explain what is going on in each picture. This could and would take the basic lab report and take it to the next level. Students would then be engaging in some higher order thinking skills, and the work would be more meaningful to them.

It is obvious that photo sharing could be used in many applications for various projects,but I feel that what makes these tools (whether it be blogs, wikis, or photo sharing) most useful is the fact that they are published to the web. Students can more easily show family and friends what they have learned and what they have done in school. The fact that this is something that the entire world can see puts a little more pressure on them to make that extra effort.

The most obvious fear is that students may post inappropriate materials on these sites. This is unfortunate but the fact is it will happen, just as students will put inappropriate materials on hardcopies. I truly feel that we as educators cannot teach with the fear of what some might do. We have policies in place that are there to protect students and staff. Any violation of those rules results in a penalty. In the case of misuse of technology, students lose the right to use the technology.

Another fear is that students and parents may not want to have their picture on the web for anyone to look at. In cases like these, we as educators need to be sensitive to the right of privacy for students and their families.

2) In reading Chapter 2, what similarities and what differences did you identify between the process the authors describe and the processes you have used to develop educational lesson plans? If you have not developed educational lesson plans, were there aspects of the process described in this chapter that you found particularly surprising, useful or unnecessary?


As a special education teacher, reading Trends and Issues in Instructional Technology (Second Edition), by Reiser and Dempsey, particularly the educational technology chapter entitled “What is Instructional Design?”, I found myself shaking my head in agreement, thinking that this information is extremely obvious. This is what I do everyday. Every lesson is learner centered, goal oriented, focused on meaningful performances, has measureable outcomes, and used to collect data to make decisions. In our special education department, my boss, the director of special education always says, “Fair is not giving everyone the same thing. Fair is giving individuals what they need to succeed.” This is the motto I use when I work with students. If I have students in a resource room class, each student has specific goals that are written into their IEP that we work toward obtaining, while learning the same material as their peers. We simply deliver it in a manor in which the student has the greatest opportunity to be successful. In order for us to develop IEP goals and objectives, we (special education teachers) must collect data and analyze that data to make the most appropriate academic decisions for that student. In developing an IEP and the goals and objectives, I am required to work with a team. This team consists of teachers, parents, counselors, administrators, and most importantly, the student.