Creating shared iPad photo streams was a brainwave – so simple and obvious, yet so effective!
They provide a space to gather evidence of learning, share practice and celebrate the learning taking place across the three campuses of our school. It’s an opportunity for members of our learning community to find out what’s happening in other grade levels, the kitchen garden, the art and music rooms… We’re encouraging more comments and conversation around what’s posted to make this even more meaningful.
We’ve come a long way in the past few years in terms of flattening classroom walls and connecting with the world. Today, the images I see in our shared photo streams suggest new possibilities…
Our art teacher posted a series of beautiful artworks by our 5 year olds. Beyond sending them home to be stuck on the fridge… imagine if photographs of these creations were published in an online book, along with captions written by the children and photos of them at work creating them?
There is some powerful thinking happening in Year 6 as their awareness of inequity is raised. Imagine if they were collaborating with learners globally, sharing their tough questions, exploring different perspectives, comparing and contrasting action taken in different countries and deepening their understanding together.
Year 5 learners revisited and reflected on their class agreement, halfway through the school year. What if they compared their agreements with those established by classes in other parts of the world? Imagine how communicating with other classes, discussing commonalities and differences might heighten awareness and strengthen learning communities within and beyond their own classrooms.
I love the photos from the Year 1 inquiry into how we express ours ideas and feelings through performance. Imagine if these performances were filmed and posted online for children in other places to see and our children received feedback from all over the world.
And, as I was writing this post, a fresh idea just struck me.
Imagine if two or more classes of similar age in different parts of the world created a shared photo stream and posted images, shared learning experiences and wrote comments to each other. Are you in?!
Our access to digital technologies make all of this, not just possible, but easy.
Just imagine… and then we can make it happen.
What Ed Said 
I am in! You should post a project like this on the Global Classrooms Project wiki. I have done two global PBLs in the past two years using the Global Classrooms and it has been an incredible experience. This year our fifth grade will create an online magazine about revolutions and how they start, causes and consequences. They will do this by also learning about the American Revolution. Anyway, I love your ideas and you have one global participant if you decide. 😉
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Here too- our school mission is to develop ‘internationally minded, lifelong learners’ and this would enable our students to utilise the resources at their disposal and give a more global perspective to their learning.
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Thanks, Heidi! Will check out the wiki and email you about establishing a connection!
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Love it!
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I can tell you’re enthusiastic, Edna! It must be good 🙂
Some questions about practicalities:
Is this proprietary to Apple/iPad? Or is it platform-independent?
How do you access it? Just a URL and maybe a password?
How do you manage in a class where you have mixed parental permissions or where vulnerable children must keep their names and faces off the web? (This applied to a good 10% of the kids in my last school).
I would love to be able to see a real photo stream in practice – probably only that way would I appreciate its potential. Would also love to be able to read what’s on those whiteboards above 🙂
Clive
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Apple devices. We currently have iPads at school so we can only share photo streams in this dead easy way with other Apple users. I’m sure there are other ways!
Nope, not even a URL, you just invite people via their email to join, they click yes and bingo! Very slick, very Apple 🙂
We’d only have a class stream, not individual kids. We already post kids pics to blogs etc, but never with their names. Parents are allowed to opt out of this, but we have very few who don’t allow their kids’ photos to be posted.
Do you have any Apple devices so I can share a stream with you? (I’d pick the one with my grandchild!)
Which whiteboards? Do you mean what the kids have written about what bothers them etc? Can send you the comments if you like 🙂
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PS, the painting at the top is FABULOUS! Is it you? 😉
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Yes, it’s me. Will send you a pic so you can see how it’s done (blowing!)
I just realised why you can’t read what’s on the board. Wordrpress is at fault! It used to be that if you clicked on the photo you got an enlarged version. Not any more, it seems!
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