A classmate had generously made up a list of excellent sites to use for collecting images. Here’s his comprehensive list:

1. Flickr.com allows you to share, store, search, and sort your photos. There are always plenty of images available for you to use. Flickr is free, though you will have to register if you want to upload and edit your own images. The photographers establish the terms, so read the permissions carefully. If you use someone else’s Flickr image, it’s always in good taste to link back to its source.
2. Bigfoto.com offers pictures from around the world, including America, Asia, Europe, Africa, and Pacific. Each main category has subcategories, for instance “aviation,” which allows you to choose from pictures in a certain theme.

3. Fotogenika.net has photos for free download for personal, educational, and nonprofit use. However, you cannot use them commercially, sell them, or claim authorship. The site is well organized, and it includes categories such as architecture, animals, people, and textures.
FreeDigitalPhotos.net has over 2000 free images that you can use in commercial and noncommercial work. You are not allowed to sell, redistribute, or claim these images as your own. You can browse by category or search for exactly what you need.

4. FreePhotosBank.com allows users to have non-exclusive, non-transferable license to images. You can search for photos, see which photos are the most popular, and which ones have the highest ratings or the most downloads.

5. FreeMediaGoo.com has a large collection of images, audio, textures, and other visual mediums that you can use for free with some restrictions. You do not even have to credit the images. The site also features some amazing digital images if you are looking for something different.

6. MorgueFile.com offers stock photographs in high resolution digital. With over 55,000 images, divided into several categories, they are sure to have something you can use. The thumbnails are small, but your search results display quickly, and the photos are of top quality.

7. PhotoRogue.com offers a different concept. If you cannot find what you need, you can send a request. The service is free and uses volunteer photographers. If you like, you can also sign up for an RSS feed that will let you know when new images become available.

8. SXC.hu offers high quality images taken around the world by amateur photographers. If you have an interest in photography, you can even submit your own pictures. There are various searching options and over 100,000 images. The photographers establish the terms, so read the fine print, but most pictures can be reused immediately.

9. Picsearch.com is another option for those who are not sure exactly what they are seeking. Picseach is a search engine that crawls the web and indexes images. However, make sure that you see the site’s licensing terms or contact the copyright holder before you download pictures. You can edit your search by animation, color, or size to find exactly what you need.

October 13th

I’ve also started to keep a bookmarks tab of all the websites that are either recommended to me or I find that are good. I’m still a little awkward when it comes to organizing those bookmarks. I want to use Delicious but its just too many clicks away.

Which brings me to my attention. its SOO easy to go down a wormhole of inquiry and look up a (few) hour(s) later and have got nothing out of it.

Then there’s the insecurity. I really don’t know what I’m doing a lot of the time and have to start at such an elementary level. I find I resent the course sometimes because I don’t feel supported. The dam constructivist model; figure it out yourself from your own knowledge base. I’ve spent years dumbing knowledge down so students can understand a particular concept. Now I actually have to think. Its Hard!

Here are some links I’ve found helpful:

for Moodle 47 Interesting Ways to Use Moodle in the Classroom (started by @TomBarrett) | Moodle News

for blogging in the classroom Kidblog | Safe and simple blogs for your students.

more on blogging Good overview of blogs- Blogs vs Social Networking

for using twitter in the classroom 30 Ways To Use Twitter For Education

internet safety sites  wired safety   internet safety

October 16, 2012

Lots of interesting discussion going on in class right now. Protecting personal information (including Google docs -can’t use it in the classroom, its American and that means different protection laws) is a complex issue that is multi-faceted. Except for the ‘internet safety form’ we send home every year and the permission to publish photos, nobody is really talking about privacy in the schools that I teach in.

Here is section 30 from FIPPA BC posted from a classmate:

Protection of personal information

30 A public body must protect personal information in its custody or under its control by making reasonable security arrangements against such risks as unauthorized access, collection, use, disclosure or disposal. [Amended by 2003-5-7], [Amended by 2004-64-2]

Storage and access must be in Canada

30.1 A public body must ensure that personal information in its custody or under its control is stored only in Canada and accessed only in Canada, unless one of the following applies:

(a) if the individual the information is about has identified the information and has consented, in the prescribed manner, to it being stored in or accessed from, as applicable, another jurisdiction;

(b) if it is stored in or accessed from another jurisdiction for the purpose of disclosure allowed under this Act. [Amended by 2004-64-3]

(c) if it was disclosed under section 33.1(1)(i.1).[Added by 2005-35-8]

Reference

Office of the Information and Privacy Commission of BC retrieved December 1, 2012 from http://www.oipc.bc.ca

It is day three sitting sitting here at home in front of my computer and I have completed very little, except for some reading. I have run into quite a few technical issues; I am in the throes computer woes! Right now it is like a huge morass that I’m  s l o l w l y gaining access to. As an experience, it can help because if I want to introduce a variety of technologies to my peers back in my professional life, I can fully understand the reluctance and fear that goes along with learning something new. As soon as I figure out who I can ask/bug for help and advice I think things will begin to ease up. I am really being challenged right now.

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