Ideas for Using Digital Cameras to Enhance Teaching and Learning

Our class ideas:

1. As a biology teacher: pictures of animals, plants, fungus, where things are located in the classroom, parts of microscope, class members/chart, biological things located around the schools campus (have students take them).
2. I think attendance is a great thing to use a digital camera for. Having kids put their photos up was an enjoyable thing for me whenever I've done it in class.
3. I'd like to be able to put projects up on the net as well, too. Instead of just creating a piece of art and taking it home, why not be able to put a picture of it on the web so anyone anywhere can see it.
4. I would like to be able to record short poems, skits or plays to do the same thing as well.
5. In math:
   • take pics of basic shapes, 3d shapes
   • get pics of to use with proofs
   • get pics of real life applications with trig
   • take pictures of things to use with calculus
   • take pictures to along with algebra- to illustrate what we're actually doing on paper
6. The best way to use the digital camera in the classroom is by taking pictures of the students to get to know them.
7. creating tours of the classroom
8. showing interesting pictures of places traveled to let the students get a real world aspect
9. taking pictures of students work to showcase at the end of the week
10. taking video of a certain event from another culture to show the classroom
11. In history class:
    • virtual tours
    • field trips
    • student names
    • storylines about certain event in history
    • comic cartoons to lighten atmosphere but to still tell story that is relevant
    • Times lines (in pics)
12. As a resource for lesson enhancement rather than having a lesson based solely on the image that the students take being art
    itself.
13. -student introductions-take pictures and make name card
14. pictures for video conferencing, website, blogs, etc.
15. insert photos into a powerpoint
16. insert photos into word document
17. have students create a picture timeline
18. tour of a classroom
19. students take photos of themselves participating in the community
20. slide shows
21. students use photos to express feelings
22. I could use pictures for a seating chart and in order to get to know everyone's
    name. For the seating chart, that would be mainly for any substitute teachers that
    came in.
23. Students could use digital cameras to take pictures of the things that they are
    writing about, like if they are writing about the grass, they can accompany their
    literature with a picture.
24. I can use cameras to help students interpret poems and ideas that can be found in
    literature.
25. They can be used to help with vocabulary words.

Initial list developed by Paula Pedersen and Helen Mongan-Rallis, 2001:

1. Learning names: Take photo of each student (have them write their name in dark marker on a card and hold it in front of them so you can tell who they are when you look at the photos later! (Uses: Paste photos into word processing document and print our for your files, to post, or place on web page, use for  online threaded discussions).
2. Include in advising records (e.g. in Filemaker Pro database).
3. Pictures of students/instructor on personal web pages.
4. Class/student pictures on course web pages.
5. Student pictures in threaded discussion (helps develop a sense of community and helps students to get to know each other).
6. Still pictures for video conferencing (e.g. iVisit, NetMeeting) when you don't have a web cam.
7. Illustrate "how to" guides (equipment use, to teach a process).
8. Demonstrate lab procedures.
9. Demonstrate understanding of lab experiments (e.g. frog dissection. Students photograph the different steps in the dissection, paste the photo into a word processing document, and then label the parts of the frog).
10. Document changes or life cycles (e.g. life cycle of frogs, butterflies, plants, climate change).
11. Photographs of mouth to show lip/tongue position for speech/language classes.
12. Illustrate different techniques in clinical practices, theatre design, art, physical education, teaching methods.
13. Include pictures in PowerPoint lectures (for face-to-face lectures and for uploading to the web).
14. Student reports & papers (using photographs to illustrate concepts, issues).
15. Record student presentations and use for debriefing what they learned.
16. Pre-service teachers document pictures of themselves teaching and then use to explain/describe to rest of class (adds depth of meaning.
17. Awareness and appreciation of cultural differences.
18. Illustrate geometry in real world.
19. Digital case studies – students or instructor take real world scenes and use these, along with annotations, to describe different scenarios.
20.  Document progress on project (e.g. photographs stage make-up for theatre class. Instructor can then give feedback by writing on the photograph, pointing out different strengths & weaknesses).
21.  Analyzing field setting -- in preparation for or to document afterwards (e.g. classroom; geology field trip).
22.  Create virtual field trips.
23.  Data collection for observation based studies.
24.  Show different communication styles.
25.  Clinical practicum (e.g. counselor ed; speech lang. Path - narrative development).
26.  Showcase collections on the web (e.g. anthropology ).
27.  Identification of samples (e.g. geology, micro biology petri dish).
28.  In earth science classes, to show different landforms, weather features.
29.  Record student presentations.
30.  For newsletters about course or program.
31. Using still photos to create a video (requires video-editing application such as Avid Cinema, iMovie).
32.  Student study/review.
33.  Testing: This can be done on hard-copy or web-based (e.g. rock slices).
34.  Student portfolios: Students include photographs of their work to document their progress (need to provide annotations to explain what the photographs are showing).

Ideas for Using Video clips (15 second QuickTime video clips taken with Sony Mavica)

1. Teach sign language (demonstrate different signs).
2. Examine the process of group dynamics (can use to show or teach as well as to have students analyze).
3. Role play – to demonstrate concept/issue.
4. Language development.
5. Skill development (to show technique).
6. For students to observe themselves and critique their own performance (e.g. video clips of themselves teaching, performing skills, pronouncing words).