Flickr.

Sumatran Tiger...
Originally uploaded by abdhakamabdah...On 3 Months Break

“Flickr is an online repository for images” (Central Queensland University, 2009), therefore, I consider Flickr as being an online photo album. I think that Flickr is a wonderful tool which could be utilised well for a range of educational purposes as it is a program which is quick and easy to use and maintain as the site quickly uploads a number of your photos and allows you to sort them into whatever order you desire. The main advantage of using a program like Flickr is that the way in which the program is used can be modified to suit all year levels and key learning areas, for example, younger students could upload photos into folders based upon each key learning area which they are studying, where as, older students could use the program in association with other tools, such as, blogs.

This program is also advantageous for learning managers, as it is well known that when students go on excursions a large amount of photos are usually taken and never to be seen again due to time restraints and storing issues involved with viewing the pictures, therefore, this site would be perfect for storing photo’s from students learning experiences as they can be accessed quickly and easily simply by logging onto the internet.

Within learning environments at times it can be hard to get students to reflect upon their learning experiences, however, I think that it would be easy to engage students in reflecting upon their learning by using Flickr as a tool as students could reflect upon their learning journey by writing comments about their pictures displayed on the site.

When I graduated from primary school each student in my class received a cd with a range of pictures on from our class’s learning experiences throughout our schooling years. Half of my friends who were in my class at school have lost their graduation cd and often comment upon how they wish they still had their cd so that they could look back and reminisce about their learning journey. Therefore, I think that Flickr would be an excellent tool to use for occasions like graduations as it allows whole class’s learning journeys to be stored in the one place and be accessed from anywhere in the world for many years to come.

During my experience with Flickr I came across the above picture of a Sumatran Tiger from a National Zoo in Malaysia (Abdhakamabdah, 2007), and it got me thinking of how else this program could be used within learning environments, and I think that Flickr would be particularly useful and engaging if students were learning about Explorers in one of their units, as the program could allow the students to take on the role of an explorer and explore the entire world from their school in a matter of minutes by looking at these spectacular pictures found on the site.

Reference List:
Abdhakamabdah. (2007). Sumatran tiger. Retrieved August 12, 2009, from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/abdhakamabdah/487984685/

Central Queensland University (CQU). (2009). FAHE11001- Managing E-Learning: Moodle site. Rockhampton, QLD, Australia: Scot Aldred.