Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Study Abroad Italy Via Flickr and Pimpampum

I absolutely loved playing around with Flickr photos to upload onto Pimpampum. Pimpampum is an online site where users can use their own photos or photos they find on Flickr which can be used commercially to create comic strips, slideshows, and photo books that can be published for the Internet to view your work. This website is easy and quick to use, it allows you to insert text for blurbs above photos, and can be used in multiple ways. Although I did not use my own photos, I made a strip which documents some of the aspects of by experience studying abroad in Rome, Italy. Thinking from the perspective of a child, it was so much more fun and engaging using this site to write text and display pictures compared to the traditional book report or essay. Teachers can incorporate Pimpampum into the curriculum very easily, such as having students use this sight to create and publish a story with pictures, reflect on their favorite family vacations, book reports, a class photo album from memorable activities, etc. The possibilities are endless especially because it is such a great motivator for students. It is very difficult to get children to want to write whether it is reflectively, creatively, or academically. This site makes children so engaged that it does not seem like work, it really is pure pleasure and children will take great pride and ownership in it knowing that it is published for the world to see! Heck, I even had a ball going down memory lane putting together a strip about my European adventures. Here is my Pimpampum strip titled Study Abroad Italy which gives one example of all the fun that can take place inside of the classroom.

3 comments:

Maryanne said...

Nicely done, but you have 2 attributions. Can you chenge that to one?

Nicole said...

I am not to sure I know what you mean?!

lizabaker said...

Wow! I am just glad that various rome universities actually offer english proficiency classes. :D