Pros and Cons of Flickr in Education
Pros:
- Flickr has the ability to promote motivation to learn in students. This is because it is not originally developed as an education tool. Students will feel more relaxed when learning with Flickr.
- Flickr as one of the social networking technologies can foster interaction and communication among learners. It will especially play an important role in online learning courses where students may have limited time or distance barrier for face-to-face interaction. Flickr can be a tool for students to build a network with their peers through photo sharing and commenting. Photos also reflect experiences so the site is where people exchange experiences. Flickr then builds a sense of community.
- Besides a network among peers, students can tie with a community of expert or amateur enthusiasts. Students are exposed to professional experiences.
Cons:
- Flickr is not censored. Instructor should give advice on inappropriate images to students especially young learners.
- As Flickr contains a myriad of photos and people set the names of their albums or photostreams at will, searching for the right images on Flickr may be time-consuming and tedious.
- Like in other vast online information sources, students may be distracted easily from the learning goals by wandering the photo sets which are not related to the learning topics.
- Some of the pictures on Flickr are copyrighted so they cannot be downloaded to be used in other settings.
Below are the sites where people expressed their experience in using Flickr. Check out what they said and you will see more of its benefits and disadvantages from their views.
A student's reflection on her practicum to present a library on Flickrhttp://classes.tametheweb.com/librarybug/category/practicum/
A teacher shared his experience on using Flickr in classrooms. The presentation is on the slideshow. http://www.slideshare.net/michaelc/teaching-with-flickr-presentation
See example 6 “Have students post images they have created to Flickr” on this page. http://cit.duke.edu/services/consult/web20casestudies.html
References:
7 things you should know about…Flickr from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7034.pdf
The Promise of Social Networks By Derek E Baird, November 1, 2005 http://www.techlearning.com/article/4816
I think Flickr is the interested tool which motivate the students to attend their lesson. And we can apply it for being a component in online learning to make the learning amazingly.
Sorapong Phookhaothong
If students get suggestion in the right way. I think that this tool can prompt them learning and apply in lesson or activity.
I talk to my guys about using flickr, I shared your blog with them in effort to introduce them to it, so hopefully atleast one will become intreseted. thanks for sharing
Hi Joe,
I'm glad that my link is useful. Your students may not be interested now but I hope that when the right chances come, Flickr will be their choice. Cheers!
Ratana, you're right. Teachers should help students to criticize appropriateness of photos on Flickr and other resources. Students should be equipped with this skill for their life-long learning especially in the online world. Thanks for your opinion.
Ornisa this is great information! I agree with you and Ratana-instructors should play a role in creating guidelines for using these tools, especially since they may be new to some students.