Peer Review

Photos for Class

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Mar 28, 2016 by Teacher Education

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: Photos for Class is a free search engine to find and access images that are appropriate for school setting.All images downloaded from Photos for Class come with a short citation that includes the author’s name and the image license terms. There are also links for associated cites to create rubrics and storyboards.
Type of Material:: Collection
Recommended Uses:: The search engine can be used to find photos for class projects, lectures, and presentations. Students can use the search engine by themselves or as a team. The uses for this product are endless. Teachers can use it as they create presentations for their classes. Students can use Photos for Class for their own assignments and presentations.
Technical Requirements:: None noted
Identify Major Learning Goals:: There are no major learning goals. The learning material is a search engine which can be used to find photos. Photos For Class meets the needs of teachers who need a place to access safe images to be used in the classroom and for educational purposes as well as accurate image citations. All images are appropriate for the school setting, thanks to Flicker SafeSearch and their proprietary filters. Downloaded images automatically cite the author and the image license terms. All photos shown are, to the best of their (and Flickr's) knowledge, licensed by Creative Commons for public use. http://www.photosforclass.com/#sthash.PaFwN8m3.dpuf
Target Student Population:: Grade School, Middle School, High School, College General Ed
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: There is no auto-correct. Students must know how to spell the terms correctly.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: The content presented is limited to the pictures themselves. However, the library of creative commons pictures available is absolutely astounding. Searches for the following words--food, houses, hearts, cats, dogs, computers, backgrounds, paper, books--each yielded more than 300 pictures. Such an extensive resource of imagery in one place is invaluable for teachers.
Concerns:: The selection of photos is limited. The website is also censored. For example, it can not be used to search for terms that are found in a health class. When banned terms are entered into the search box, photos of puppies appear. It would be helpful to have a way to display more than 30 pictures at a time.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: Photos For Class makes it as easy as possible to attribute photos properly, especially for printed or presented materials so that there is no worry about plagiarism or stolen work. Citations are created automatically when a user downloads a picture. Images contain: the name of the author; the name of the photo; a link to the original photo; the name and type of license along with a link to read it. This material can be used at any stage in the learning cycle. http://www.photosforclass.com/about/citing-photos#sthash.CD3e64ut.dpuf
Concerns:: The selection of photos is limited. All of the photos are not relevant. The search engine can not be used in science and health classes. For example, one reviewer used DNA as a search term and photos of various objects appeared such a scarf, two people sitting in front of a computer, and Christmas lights.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: The site has a clean, easily navigable layout. Color is used strategically on a white background. The sans serif font is easy to read, with font size varying according to the importance of the text. Beautiful, high quality photos are easy to find and download as .png files. Users can find additional information about how to use the site on the included tabs for Citing Photos, Filtering Photos, Top 250 Searches, and Add to Your Site.
Concerns:: None.

Other Issues and Comments:: Photos for Class wanted to make a better, safer way for students to find photos for class. Specifically, they focus on minimizing exposure to scantily clad men and women and racially offensive material. They are less concerned with imagery of alcohol, drugs and violence since the user is typically specifically looking for such content and thus not accidentally shown, and can also be the focus of educational papers. They utilize a four step filtering system enhanced by community input. Flickr pre-filters content as “globally safe for all ages” Certain search terms are banned that contain restricted words like sexy (example sexy outfit, sexy lady, etc.) Certain keywords are banned but only if used by themselves. For example, users can't search for butt, but can search for butter. The community reports images as inappropriate and if they agree, will remove it from the searchable content See more at: http://www.photosforclass.com/about/filtering-photos#sthash.hojp2mJo.dpuf
Creative Commons: