Tools for Teaching with Images

One serious problem we have encountered and written about is the text-centric nature of nearly all learning tools on the web. Even when images are uploaded to threaded discussions, they get lost quickly. It is difficult to have the image remain front and center. More and more image tools are emerging, but there is still a long way to go. Flickr continues to be an important resource in many ways - as a source of images of works in-situ (youtube is also great for that), as a source of unexpected, but related images, and as a tool. Flickr's "Add Note" feature can be used in learning activities where students annotate an image the teacher has uploaded, or annotate their own or eachother's images. Images can be tagged with vocabulary words after a Scavenger Hunt in a local museum. Images can also be discussed in the comments section of Flickr, below the image.

We've also had students create Smarthistory-style conversations, with simple audio-recording devices (like the ones that fit on top of an iPod). 

In this blog post, we reviewed some tools and resources for teaching with images. Here are some tools and resources that might be useful:

Flickr
vi.sualize.us
Conceptshare
Jing
Voicethread
Cozimo
artsconnected
Wetpaint
Skitch
Dipity