we've come a long way

Nerijp. Maitre d'ecole-Bale 1516. CC BY-SA 3.0.

The age of technology has ushered in an era of educational buzzwords such as "multimedia literacy" and "21st century learning." In addition to traditional curriculum and preparing for standardized tests, many teachers also feel burdened with the task of making sure students can responsibly use and understand digital tools. I have been playing around a bit with some ideas for incorporating digital images into the classroom, allowing students to experiment with creating and editing visual messages. 

(Note that all links below take you directly to the tool I mention, not the website's homepage.)

1. Using FoldPlay, students can create their own Fold Books made up of eight images and captions. These small books can be a useful tool for evaluating student understanding or encouraging unique study strategies. Using this tool, students could illustrate parts of a poem, causes and effects of an historical event, real-world applications of scientific/mathematical concepts, or visual representations of vocabulary words. 
2. BigHugeLabs has a tool that will allow students to create photo mosaics. Students can choose the number of photos, background colors, and border colors, possibly creating mosaics that convey a mood to match a poem or story, argue for a position on a debatable issue, or help represent a culture or concept.
3. At the beginning of the school year, let students express themselves and motivate each other by using Tuxpi to create their own motivational posters. In an English class, students could even take on the persona of a literary character, or in history, that of an influential person. More advanced students may be able to use the juxtaposition of an image and text to practice satire and irony.

As with anything students "find" on the Internet, it's helpful to remind them that source credit is necessary. It may be beneficial to make an official bibliography mandatory for these assignments. At the beginning of the school year, reviewing MLA or APA rules with fun, less grade-heavy projects allows students to review and practice citation requirements without the added weight of a paper or project. Rules for using images can be confusing, so teachers might want to plan a day or two of instruction about copyright and image licenses.