Thursday, July 30, 2009

Picnik

Picnik is a fun and free editing program which allows you to upload any pictures from your computer and edit it using a variety of different effects. It is linked with not only Flickr but with other popular internet programs such as myspace and facebook. It has effects such being able to crop, adjust the colours, shape and exposure. It also has fantastic special effects under the create tab which allows the user to air brush (my favourite, lol!), place stickers on the photo, frame it and many more. Most of these are free but you are able to pay to have more special effects available to you.

I have included a photo in which I have edited using the Picnik program. I have included the same photo I used above of my daughter to show how effective it can really be and not to mention FUN! I used the crop effect as well as one of the creative tools (sorry slipped my mind which one!).It is easy to use and navigate around (especially for all aged students - with some instruction) and can also promote knowledge and skills in how to edit photos as well as students being able to use these within projects such as brochures, the creation of webpages, wikis and blogs. It can also be an effective tool to get the students to edit their own pictures, print them out and place around the classroom giving the student pride in their room! The use of this program comes under the learning design and resources aspect within Oliver's framework (as cited in AUTC, 2009) as the teacher or LM is designing a lesson to enhance students abilities to capture and edit images for their final project, the students are then using the Picnik program to apply these different special effects to support information within the project and to make it stand out.





AUTC. (2003). Learning Design. Retrieved July 29, 2009, from http://www.learningdesigns.uow.edu.au/project/learn_design.htm
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4 comments:

  1. NatalieJuly 31, 2009 at 10:54 PM

    It sounds like a great site which can also be used in the classroom also. I havn't tried it out yet but after reading your blog i will do it now!

    Talk to you later, Natalie

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  2. SarahAugust 4, 2009 at 5:53 PM

    HI Amanda,
    I love Picnik as well it is such a useful tool much easier and quicker. I agree with you when you say that it enhances students abilities to capture and edit images for their final projects. I think this program is also fun to use and I can see students having a ball playing around and manipulating their pictures the way they want.
    Sarah

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  3. MelissaAugust 9, 2009 at 1:20 AM

    Hi Amanda,
    What a cute little girl you have!
    I definitely agree that this is a good tool to use in the classroom. The students would have fun manipulating pictures for projects. It would also enhance their ICT skills as they would need to learn how to effectively use a digital camera, then upload the pictures for editing.
    It would also be a good tool to personalise photos for Mothers/Fathers Day cards.
    Melissa.

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  4. AmandaAugust 9, 2009 at 4:39 PM

    I had never thought of using it to enhance their very own pictures for mothers day/fathers day and many other different cards for others! GREAT IDEA! I think its great as we know that children learn best when they take pride in their work as it enhances their motivation to learn! Like I said previously it is a fun and capturing program to use for students and definately helps enhance their skills and knowledge, maybe even give them some incentive to start up photography as a hobby!

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