Gickr
25 10 2006Via Lifehacker I have found another creative use for Flickr. Gickr produces animated gifs using your flickr photos, just type in your username and the tag you wish to use then select the photos you wish to include and the animated gif is produced.
Then you just need to decide how to share it with others, either by linking to the URL or embedding into your blog/webpage.
Gickr looks really good. It is similar to PictureCloud http://www.picturecloud.com but is free which is a bonus. I was thinking it would be good for describing objects in a room in French by taking a set of pictures (about 20 or so) standing in the middle of a room and turning 360 degrees.
Your previous post on Google Docs also caught my imagination. I’ve been playing around with Skype for the last few days and it seems to have a lot of potential. I’ve finally been able to work out a way to record both sides of a Skype phone calls using a free service called Pretty May http://www.prettymay.net/. Two days ago I took part in a Skypecast set up by a teacher in Scotland called David Noble. https://skypecasts.skype.com/skypecasts/skypecast/detailed.html?id_talk=42217
He came up with the brilliant idea of collaborating on a Google Doc http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ah9sjphgvnt9_1rt2k9f (You’ll have to open a Google account to view this I think) with members of the Skypecast who were talking to each other and filling in a table about lesson ideas for Internet Safety. I thought the combination of Skype and Google Doc or any sort of collaborative site / Wiki could have huge potential for language learning. Pupils could work on the same document anywhere in the world by typing in real time and talking to each other in the foreign language. The conversation could be automatically recorded and played back at a later date.
What do you think?
Best wishes
Joe
Integrating ICT into the MFL classroom - www.joedale.typepad.com
Joe, I looked at PictureCloud a while ago and really liked it, especially the ease of taking photos with your mobile phone. As a big user of Flickr that is the bonus for me in using Gickr.
Pretty May looks nice - pity it doesn’t work on a mac
I will give David an email about adding me as a collaborator on the document, I would be keen to input to the scheme.
I have used Google Docs a lot in schools in Shropshire with students writing scripts for their podcasts and with teachers to produce collaborative documents, I would be keen to try and investigate setting up some projects between students from outside of Shropshire - maybe producing a joint podcast.
Joe keep up the good work
Steve
My bunch of happy Y8 learners are about to launch into an investigation of the validity and reliability of information found through research on the Internet. I’m keen to include wikipedia and similar this year but also want them to work collaboratively through Google Docs. I thought of giving them a starting point such as a simple statement in a Google Doc, with its ‘base’ URL linked, and let them fly with it and add statements to support or refute as they find them. A bit like a Blog, but then turn it into an essay-type discussion paper, since they’ll have all the sources acknowledged and ready to compile. This any use for your presentation, Steve? And would anyone else like to join in? We’re open to suggestions for the topic - but have used things like “all computer games are evil” or “school uniform is an outmoded form of dress” in the past.