Using Pixlr

Pixlr (www.pixlr.com) is a robust image manipulation tool that runs completely through your web browser, offering a free online alternative to Photoshop. 

source: Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons attribution license)

The collage above was made entirely within Pixlr. I started with an original image from Wikimedia Commons and used Pixlr's online tools to add text, modify colors, isolate certain elements, change the contrast and brightness of the image, and arrange them into a collage.

Pixlr can be a helpful tool for students to have access to in the classroom.

Memes and Animated Gifs

Memes and animated gifs can be a fun way to enhance your lessons and get your students' attention.

ImgFlip's Meme Generator is a free online image creation tool specifically designed to make meme images quickly and easily. You can browse through their collection of images or upload your own. Adding text is easy.  

image source: imgflip MemeGenerator

I would be super excited if my school gave ChromeBooks to every student!

Another easy image creation tool is MakeAGif which lets you create animated gifs from videos or images. I made this short animated gif of a baby sloth yawning using a YouTube video that was licensed under Creative Commons copyright allowing reuse. 

original video source: People Laugh At / YouTube (Creative Commons attribution license)

Teaching with Padlet

Padlet (www.padlet.com) is an online service that lets you create virtual bulletin boards on which you can post text, pictures, videos, presentations, web pages and other online resources.

Use in the classroom or educational setting:

Teachers can create a padlet to compile resources for their units (as I will demonstrate below) to allow students to explore topics and concepts related to in-class learning. Another option is to create an empty padlet and give students permission to post their own work or resources to it.

Example lesson using Padlet:

In my 10th grade English classroom, I teach a unit of study focused on literary archetypes. I want to get my students thinking about characters and situations in books and movies that follow commonly used templates. I created a padlet to give students online resources that they can browse at their own pace to learn more about archetypes. Each item in the padlet has specific instructions to follow and questions that check for understanding.

After exploring all 10 online resources contained in the padlet, students will demonstrate knowledge and understanding of literary archetypes by writing a children's story that uses common character and situational archetypes.

Copyright considerations:

Using Padlet in the classroom can be a great opportunity for teachers to discuss the issue of copyright with their students. For each item posted in the padlet above, I made an effort to identify the copyright owner and list the type of license it is published under. I would introduce students to Creative Commons copyright licenses and explain how they differ from standard copyright protections by allowing you to republish and, in some cases, modify an author's original work.

Application:

Last week I discussed three design principles for enhancing learning with instructional multimedia--pre-training, personalization, and segmentation--that have proven beneficial for student learning. I have attempted to implement all three principles into the lesson above.

• Pre-training: Before giving students the padlet assignment above I would provide pre-training through classroom discussions and a short presentation that define very clearly what an archetype is, and provide examples of common archetypes that they are already familiar with, like heros, villians, and mentors. 
• Personalization: Using conversational language in Padlet is another practice that I would recommend. I use words like "you" and "your" so that students can relate to the material more readily. 
• Segmentation: Padlet is an excellent method to segment a lesson into chunks that learners can work through at their own pace.

Reflection:

When searching for lesson materials to include in this padlet, my goal was to use as many resources as possible that are licensed under Creative Commons copyright licenses. This turned out to be more difficult than expected. It was helpful that Google, YouTube, and Vimeo each offer advanced search options that let you filter results to show only content licensed under Creative Commons, and there is also a Creative Commons search engine available online to find additional resources. Still, there seems to be a lack of educational materials available that utilize these licenses, which resulted in me including resources that are under standard copyright terms. This process has encouraged me to license my own creative products under Creative Commons in the future so that others can benefit from them as well. 

Padlet is an educational technology tool that I plan to use more in my classroom. It provides an easier alternative to creating a website or webpage to share resources with students. It can be customized further by changing the layout and sorting options of posts, and an option to turn on or off the ability for viewers to leave comments on posts. It is embeddable into existing websites (as you can see here) or viewers can launch a padlet through a unique link that you provide them.