Pics4Learning
Oops, some how February slipped by with out a single blog post and if I don’t get busy the same thing will happen again this month. I know, we’re all busy but I do need to make more of an effort to post at least once a month and preferably twice. I have many topics running around in my brain but just haven’t taken the time to put any of them down in writing. So, now, which one to begin with?
I would guess a year or so ago I looked at the site Pics4Learning and thought it was a good idea but there wasn’t a lot there. I moved on and forgot about it. Well, this year I’m making a greater effort to begin teaching my students the importance of using pictures they have permission to use and how to give credit for pictures. While looking for appropriate sites I came across Pics4Learning again. This time I took a closer look and was happy that there seemed to be a larger selection of photos, or maybe I just didn’t take enough time to thoroughly explore it last time I was there. There are close to 50 different topics to choose from. They even have pictures from the Library of Congress. This came in very handy when I was looking for pictures of the presidents for a wiki project I did with my 5th graders. I think this site is especially wonderful for elementary students. The site is safe, easy to search and easy to see who to give credit for the photo.
I also noticed that anyone can upload pictures. So, I have become a cheerleader for the site! I would like to encourage everyone to add photos. I belong to several groups on Flickr and know there are many edtech folks out there that have pictures that would be great contributions to this site.
I had a couple of questions and contacted the site. Melinda Kolk responded very quickly. Here are my questions and her answers:
Is it possible to do a batch upload?
Because of the citation information needed for each image, there isn’t a batch upload on the site. You can however, send a CD to us with the photos and a completed spreadsheet. (Contact Melinda Kolk for spreadsheet info.)
Do you have a size preference for the pictures?
This is really a hard one. It is always nice to have large images for resolution purposes, but really large images take a lot of bandwidth. I wouldn’t do scenery shots at less than 1024×768 or 768 x1024, but if you are shooting a particular bird, or flower, or something at 600 across would probalby be fine because a student would use it in a project as an image that supports their work.
So please go take a look at the site and give some serious thought to adding to the picture collection.
Filed under: Technology | Tagged: photography, pics4learning
I’d just concur that Pics4Learning is great. I usually start my classroom image search there because it’s well organized and kid-safe. If they don’t have waht I”m looking for then I move on to one of the other options like morguefile.
I was happy to find your name on one of my student’s images the other day. I found out when I was helping my fourth grader with her bibliography. I added some images last month. They are taking a long time to put them on the website, but I hope to see them soon.
It is becoming my first stop with students because I trust the quality and appropriateness for my students.