Picnik.

WOW! That was my immediate reaction to the services offered on Picnik; it is just what I have been looking for. This site is amazing, as it allows you to manipulate your images in a number of different ways for free. Prior to part-taking in this course I had never heard of Picnik, therefore, I followed the steps on the Moodle website and created an account (Central Queensland University, 2009).

After creating my account I uploaded the above picture of my dog Bonnie onto the website. After fiddling around with the features offered to manipulate your images on the site, I decided to crop my picture, along with, add text to it, and change the exposure and colour of the image. One of the main changes which I like the most about the manipulated image is that it looks like my dog is boogying in the sunset. Below you can see how I manipulated my picture, the results are amazing!

As the Picnik website does not store your images for you, I chose the option to store my manipulated image to my Flickr site. I think that this Picnik program could be used in association with the Flickr website within school settings, as students could manipulate their images and reflect upon the before and after look of their image on their Flickr account, along with, collaborate with their peers by providing them with feedback about their manipulated images. I strongly believed that the services provided on Picnik and Flickr could be useful in the learning environment when implementing learning experiences based upon the learning engagement theory, as there are unlimited opportunities for students to be provided with tasks that are delivered in a collaborative context, that are project-orientated and contain an outside authentic focus (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999).

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

Kearsley, G., & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement theory: a framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved July 16, 2009, from
http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm