New Picture Editing Tools

I just saw this article on new tools ... it comes from a web site called "Free Technology for Teachers" that sends me an email every day about new technology tools. I like the fact that the author includes a brief note after describing each tool that talks about how it can apply to education. Not all of the tools are applicable to me and I don't have the time to try all of them out, but I want to know about what's "out there" and so appreciate this quick daily review. It also means that technology and instruction are never far from my attention. Anyway, here is a blurb from today's email that I want to look into this summer:

Ten Tools for Cropping, Resizing, and Enhancing Images Online

This afternoon as I worked through a backlog of email I replied to a couple of questions about resizing images to make them fit under the size limitation for images in the new Socrative image-based question feature. I have tried a lot of image resizing, cropping, and enhancing tools over the years. Here are ten good ones to try.

Pixlr is a great set of image creation and editing tools. Pixlr offers web-based image editing tools as well as image editing tools to use on Android phones and on iPhones. Pixlr also has Firefox and Chrome browser extensions for creating screen captures.Pixlr Editor is Pixlr's most full-featured image creation and editing tool. You can create drawings from scratch using the pencil and coloring tools that they provide. Pixlr Editor also has options for uploading images or importing images from other places on the web. The selection of creation and editing tools is huge. There are options for making multiple layer images, dozens of filter settings, and of course tools for cropping and resizing images. Your images can be saved to your computer or you can send them to Flickr, Picassa, Facebook, or you can save them in a Pixlr account.

PicMonkey is one of my favorite online image editing tools. To get started using PicMonkey you can upload an image by simply dragging it from your desktop to the PicMonkey editor. From there you can change things like saturation, contrast, size, and sharpness. You can then add custom frames and special effects like "Polaroid style" to your images. Want to add text to your images? PicMonkey provides a slew of font styles for your use. And if you have just one tiny part of an image that you want to enhance or obscure, PicMonkey gives you tools for that too.

GooEdit is a free image editing tool that operates as a Google Chrome extension. GooEdit allows you to edit images without having to leave your browser. You can add outlines, flip images, resize images, and do other basic image editing tasks in GooEdit. If you need a simple image editing tool for your students, give GooEdit a try.

Quick Picture Tools is a free service that offers twelve tools for editing and enhancing your pictures. Some of the things that you can do with Quick Picture Tools include cropping images, combining images, adding text to images, and creating calendar wall paper for your computer. Each of the tools provides the option to resize images and adjust the overall quality of your original image before you use it for a collage, calendar, or mini poster.

Picfull is a free online photo editing service. To use the service just upload a picture and select an effect to add to it.  Picfull offers eighteen basic sets of effects. After you select an effect you can customize it to your liking. When you're finished altering your photo you can download or share it via Twitter, Facebook, or email.

Picozu is a free online image editing tool. Using Picozu you can touch-up existing images or you can create new images from scratch. In the Picozu editor you will find tools for adjusting color saturation and clarity. The editor also includes tools for creating images containing multiple layers. And if you want to include text in your image Picozu has options for that too. Picozuoffers the option to register and join their community or you can use the editing tools without creating an account. If you do choose to create an account you can save your images on Picozu and add them to the community albums. If choose not to create a Picozu you can save your images to your computer, send them to your Facebook account, or send them to your Dropboxaccount.

Cropp.me is a beautifully simple web tool for quickly cropping your images. Cropp.me is a little different than a lot of the other services in this market. What makes Cropp.me different is its smart auto-crop option. If you choose this option, Cropp.me will auto-detect the focal point of your images and crop accordingly. Cropp.me allows you to upload and crop up to five images at the same time. You can crop your images to one of nine predefined sizes or you can specify a custom size.

Fotor is a free image editing tool available in your web browser, as a desktop application for Mac and Windows, as iPad app, as an Android app, and as a Windows 8 application. Fotor can be used without creating an account. With Fotor you can crop images, apply filters, add picture frames, insert clip art, and add text to your images. You can also create image collages on Fotor. All of your work can be saved on your computer or mobile device.

Phrase.it is a simple service that anyone can use to add speech bubbles and some basic Instagram-like effects to your pictures. To use the service just upload a picture and choose a speech bubble. Drag your speech bubble into place then type your text. You can change the font style in your speech bubbles. Click the "add more drama" button to add one of four image shading effects.

Imageoid is a free, simple service for adding a variety of effects to your images. To useImageoid you just upload an image from your computer then choose the effect(s) you want to apply to it. You can combine effects if you like. If you don't like the way your image looks with a chosen effect, just click "reset" to start again. Imageoid can also be used to resize your image. Imageoid offers twenty-two effects that you can apply to your image.

Reflecting on Wordle, Google Earth, Google Forms, and Mindmapping

It's been a little over a week since my 518 colleagues introduced me to these tools. I've been using some of them a lot (Wordle and Google Forms). For example, one of my classmates had to miss that particular class session, so I wrote up my notes and gave her specific directions on how to use Wordle. This forced me to think through what I had learned and how to teach it to someone else, a process that is always instructive! With regard to Google Forms, I found myself talking to friends throughout the week about how useful this tool can be. I made up several mock quizzes to show them how powerful this tool could be  in a classroom context. I even created a survey using Google Forms for my work -- it looked very professional and was easy to edit. I'm sold!

At first glance, I wasn't drawn as much to Google Earth or mind mapping. In the case of the former, I have used that before and while it always evoked a "gee whiz" response, I'm not sure how to use it effectively in a classroom setting. I know that sounds STRANGE given that I'm planning to teach social studies, but ... My preliminary idea is to show it to students and let them show ME how it can be useful in their learning. With regard to mind mapping, I've always been a huge fan of graphic organizers (i.e., mind maps), but I'm not totally convinced that the technology version is preferable to the old-fashioned hand-drawn version. I think I may simply need to play around with the technology a bit more. For example, the technology version may be more effective if a great deal of text is involved because it's much easier for me to type than to hand write. This is definitely a tool I need to consider at greater length.

In reflection, that's the greatest value for me in learning about these tools. I don't have to use them, but I need to have them in my toolbox so I can use them for a particular "job" I need done!

Wordle -- A new (and fun) web tool

Prensky and Our Final Project

Like most of my classmates, I think, I've been worrying about, fussing over, planning, and beginning to write down my ideas for the final project for this course. Even in my rough draft, I can see how profoundly I've been influenced by so many of Prensky's ideas -- the importance of student choice, thinking about students and their passions (instead of focusing only on content and coverage), trying to make the content real as well as relevant, creating guiding questions that intrigue and "hook" students, and using technology to let students create (chapter 8). It is this latter consideration that is keeping me very busy right now in terms of the final project. I'm working on creating a multigenre research project that calls on students to do all the research and writing associated with a traditional research paper, but instead of writing write 1500 words, but not in a traditional research paper. Instead, the project I'm working on calls on the student to create 7 different "text pieces" using the technology of their choice to cover the research topic in a unique and creative way. Of course, I am leaving open to the students who they want to research, how they want to display what they learn (e.g., through poetry, obituaries, diary entries), and the technology they want to use  (Powtoons, Prezis, email exchanges, blog post, twitter feed) to display their learning. I haven't figured out exactly how to showcase their work beyond the classroom, but I'm thinking about videotaping their presentations and having them organize them for mass consumption. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, I'd greatly appreciate them because I'm a huge believer in Prensky's thesis (chapter 9): We, as teachers, create the possibility to continuously improve through practice and sharing.

Guiding Questions, New Technology Tools, and Lesson Planning

I've spent a lot of time this week thinking about guiding questions, which Prensky terms "the primary link between partnering and content." I am coming to believe that coming up with good guiding questions is one of the most important things we as teachers can do. I appreciate greatly his advice (e.g., pair why/how), but I'm still struggling. I spent a huge amount of time coming up with a question for a new unit, but try as I might to tweak it, I just didn't like it. I put it aside for a while, but then discussed it with a colleague. (Obviously, it wasn't very far from my conscious mind!) Within a couple of minutes, my colleague came up with a wonderful suggestion -- something that resonated with me and that I think will engage students and get them on the right track in terms of the content. That led to this week's epiphany -- I need to partner with fellow teachers as well as students!

I loved the new technology tools our classroom colleagues presented last week. I've already done one screencast and see an important use for it in an upcoming lesson. (Thank you, Alisia!) I've also created several animatos. I'm trying to pull together a multigenre research project assignment and that will be one of the genres students can use to demonstrate their content mastery.

It's with continuing amazement that I see how far I have come in terms of my understanding and embrace of technology as a core instructional tool. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I thought this class was going to be something I just had to "get through." Oh, I was so very wrong. I'm stretching and growing and feeling excited about putting what I'm learning into practice.

New Tools Make Me Feel Smart!

Read my story and let me know what you think!

Dream Big!

Prensky is partnering with me!

I am coming to appreciate Prensky’s book more and more with each passing week. He offers a big picture view of technology and education and leaves it to us (his readers) to do some of the work ourselves. He’s the provocateur who makes arguments, suggests questions, and touches lightly on a range of issues. It is these “lightly touched issues” that I find begging for more in-depth research and analysis. “Frustrated” at times that he is not supplying the specificity I want, I am finding myself doing independent research to find answers that satisfy my need to know more. It finally dawned on me this week as I was lamenting the lack of attention he accorded the BYOD/BYOT issue that I began to suspect that his strategy is deliberate. He is partnering with ME. That was an epiphany!

So the aspect of this week’s reading that prompted me to “do independent work” (beyond the reading) is the BYOD/BYOT issue. On its face, this approach seems like the perfect solution to cash-strapped schools. Let students bring their technology! However, understanding that too many students are already stigmatized because they can’t afford 7 for All Mankind jeans or Kobe Bryant shoes, the inevitable question arises: How will these students feel when they are once again in a situation where their economic status defines their social standing in the classroom? Of course, the counter argument is that having students bring their own devices at least provides access to technology, self-esteem issues aside. The most useful discussion I have found (so far) on this topic is an article by Lisa Nielsen entitled, “7 Myths about BYOD Debunked.” She’s surveyed a wide spectrum of research and speaks directly (and with examples) to questions such as: Does BYOD deepen the digital divide? Will BYOD lessons be geared toward the weakest technology? Does BYOD cause students to be distracted? Will teachers need to be experts in the devices students use? I found her article enlightening and helpful in thinking about this issue. Thanks, Prensky, for encouraging me to be an active learner with you!

If you’re interested in Nielsen’s article, here’s a link: http://thejournal.com/Articles/2011/11/09/7-BYOD-Myths.aspx?Page=2&p=1