Week 5 - Photos and Images

This week's focus is on adding photos and images to your blog posts. There are tons of sites online that let you store and edit photos online. I'm going to share three of my favorites with you this week. To do these tasks, you are going to need a folder of digital photos to work with. Just save your photos on your desktop, H: drive, on a flash drive, or whatever location you like so that you have easy access to them (remember, if you save them on your H: drive at school, you will only be able to access them at school).

Thing 10 - Explore Picasaweb and use it to store and edit images online

Picasaweb is another great Google tool. It allows you to upload and store photos online. Not only that, but it allows you to edit your photos using a great tool called Creative Kit, and you can create simple photo slideshows to embed in your blog posts.

To start using Picasaweb, go to http://picasaweb.google.com and log in with your normal Google account. The following video tutorial will show you how to upload your photos into Picasaweb.


How to Upload Photos to Picasawab

This video shows you how to make your photo album public so that it can be viewed by others on the web.


How to make your photos public

Now that you have some photos uploaded, learn to create a slideshow and embed it into a post on your Blogger blog. This tutorial will show you how.


Creating and Embedding a Picasaweb Slideshow

Thing 11 - Create a video show with Animoto

One of my all-time favorite online photo tools is Animoto. It allows  you to create amazing video slideshows complete with animation and music. Go to Animoto and sign up for a free account. You have to do this before you can get the free educator account.

Once you have created your basic account, go to http://animoto.com/education and sign up for the free educator account. It will give you all of the pro features of Animoto for free! You will receive an email from them in letting you know that your educator account has been approved. Here is a short tutorial on how to use Animoto. (NOTE: Animoto tends to run slow at school. I think the bandwidth is restricted on it. If you have the option to explore it at home, I would do that).


Animoto Tutorial

Create your own video using Animoto and embed it into a blog post. To embed it, you will copy the code provided, and follow the same process you did with your Picasaweb slideshow to paste the code into a blog post (be sure you are on the HTML tab).

Thing 12 - Create a photo quiz with Photo Peach

Photo Peach is another great online tools that allows you to create photo slideshows complete with music and text annotations. My favorite feature is that it lets you creat a fun photo quiz. Sign up for a free Photo Peach account (do not sign up for the educator account - it costs). Here is a tutorial video that gives you an overview of Photo Peach. (Photo Peach also tends to run slower at school, so experiment at home if possible.) Note: At the end of the video, you will see that I'm using an older version of Blogger when I show how to embed a Photo Peach show, but I think you will get the idea and have no problems in the new version. If you need help, let me know! :)


How to use Photo Peach

Create your own photo quiz in Photo Peach and embed it into your blog.

I hope you enjoyed exploring these online photo tools. Some of these tools are not appropriate for use with younger students because they require you to sign up for an account, but they are great tools for teachers.

Your final task is to reflect on these three tools and how you can use them as a teacher (or in your personal life). Write your reflections in a blog post. Be sure to visit some of your colleagues sites, check out their photo creations, and give them some feedback by commenting on their posts. :)

Here’s a checklist of this week’s required tasks:

Thing 10:

• Log in to your Picasaweb account and upload photos to an album.
• Create a slideshow in Picasaweb and embed it into a blog post on your Blogger blog

Thing 11:

• Create an Animoto account. Sign up for the free Educator account.
• Create a video in Animoto and embed it into a blog post.

Thing 12:

• Sign up for a Photo Peach Account.
• Create a photo quiz and embed it into a blog post.

Reflection tasks:

• Write a blog post that shares your reflections on these three tools and how you could use them as a teacher and/or in your personal life.
• Visit some of your colleagues' sites and see their photo creations. :) Be sure to comment on their blog post to give them feedback!