Digital Cameras and Picasa

One of my favorite tools to use in the classroom is a digital camera. Not only can I take pictures of students and activities, but I can also have the students use the cameras to document their own learning. They can take pictures of the steps and results of an experiment, examples of concepts we're discussing in class, etc. Here's a link to 1001 uses for digital cameras in the classroom for more ideas.

When it comes to buying a camera for classroom use, I recommend making your decision on three factors:

1. Ease of use - I don't have time in class to worry about which mode the camera is set on. I just want to point and shoot. Additionally, I may want my junior high school students to use the camera for a project and I don't want them messing with a bunch of features. Therefore, I'm first and foremost going to look for a camera that is very easy to use.

2. Picture Quality - The higher the number of megapixels, the better. These have come WAY up in the last few years. For example, the cameras our department purchased a few years ago are only 5 megapixels while the one I bought this Christmas is 8. Both are the same brand of point-and-shoot. Bigger megapixels means better pictures, so get the highest number that you can afford.

3. Price - As a teacher, price is always a consideration. If you are really interested in having digital cameras in your classroom, look for grants to help you out. There are several in small amounts for things just like this. For my money, The Canon PowerShot is the best deal. It is easy to use, has high megapixels, and just works really well. But you may find that you prefer something else.

To edit and store the pictures you take, you have several options. For Mac users, you have iPhoto already installed. This is a simple, very basic photo editing and storage program, but you can do some very cool things with it including identifying people in pictures for later recognition and sorting. Picasa is a similar tool that can be downloaded for free for the PC and, now, for Mac. Again, we can sort and store pictures as well as do some basic edits. Neither of these programs offers the editing power of something like Photoshop, but they are sufficient for the basic user. The coolest thing about Picasa is that it also has a Web Albums feature, enabling you to upload your pictures to the Internet for storage and viewing. You can then invite people to come and see the pictures you have uploaded. You can also embed these photo slideshows on your blog, class website, etc. Of course, this integration works especially well with Google Sites and Blogger as Picasa is also a Google product.

So there's a little bit about digital cameras and Picasa. Grab a camera, get creative, and enjoy!