Digital image libraries are essential to today’s teachers and students. Yet while stock image sites such as Shutterstock, iStock, and Getty Images offer an impressive selection of high-quality images and vector illustrations, these sites are typically beyond the budget of most school districts.

Fortunately, the image and clip art sites below provide an extensive supply of moderate- to high-quality visuals for cost-conscious schools. Most of these sites are completely free, and most have a clear license/FAQ page explaining what uses are allowed or prohibited.

Best Image and Clip Art Sites for Education

Freerange

Freerange boasts a stylish easy-to-navigate website with thousands of free high-quality images. Users can search easily by category or keyword, and filter by specific license and popularity. Download options include three sizes. Bonus- users can “download” directly to PIXLR for editing. While photos are tastefully and artistically composed, a few do include mild-moderate nudity. All photos and illustrations are licensed for commercial use, with details provided. Account required.

PROS:

• Clear Licensing Information and credit text provided
• Search by category, keyword, license type, recency and popularity
• High-quality photos and illustrations
• Three sizes available for download
• Users may share directly from image page to social media and email
• Users can contribute images

CONS:

• Occasional mild-moderate nudity may be considered inappropriate

Free Images

One of the oldest and largest free image sites, Free Images was founded as Stock.xchng in 2001. Over the next 20 years, the site merged with several free illustration sites and was renamed Free Images. Available in more than a dozen languages, the site is a repository for thousands of free photos, vector images, clipart, and editable Photoshop templates as well as icons. The robust selection of free downloads is supplemented by AI-generated images and content from the paid site iStock. No account is required, but each download is delayed for six seconds in order to show users an iStock advertisement/promo code.

PROS:

• 16 languages available
• Photos, vector images, clip art, icons, and editable Photoshop files
• Search by categories and themes
• Very good image quality
• Download size options
• Attribution clarity
• No account required

CONS:

• Paid images from iStock sprinkled in free results
• Download delay due to ads

Pics4Learning

A safe, curated image library for classroom assignments, school websites, or any education-related project, Pics4Learning provides a diverse spectrum of images in subjects ranging from American Sign Language to fractals to weather. Contribute your own JPEG or PNG images. Fully free, no account required.

PROS:

• Thousands of images curated for students
• Search by keyword, themes and collections
• Download as .jpg or save directly to Google Drive
• Citation for each image provided
• Users can contribute their own images

CONS:

• While image quality is at least adequate, there are fewer high-quality, professional-style photos compared to other sites

Pixabay

In just 15 short years, Pixabay has grown to be one of the best-known and most comprehensive free image sharing sites. Here visitors can explore and download collections of photos, illustrations, vector images, videos, and even music. All are free to download and free to use under the Pixabay license, which is a modified Creative Commons CC0 license. Pixabay shines in another way as well—its blogs and forums keep users apprised of the latest news and tips to make the most of the site.

PROS:

• Extensive collections of quality free images, videos, music, sound effects, and gifs in a wide range of categories
• Search by content type, orientation, size, color, date of publication, AI-generation, popularity
• Clear summary of license dos and don'ts
• Users can contribute their own content
• User forums allow discussions about site practices as well as artistic techniques

CONS:

• Quality varies, as is true for all free image sites

Photos For Class

From a partnership between Storyboard That and Pixabay, this education-focused image site allows teachers and students to download high-quality Creative Commons photos for school assignments. The main advantage of Photos for Class is that its curation process ensures that all images are appropriate for kids. However, no categories are listed for easy browsing and the search feature is limited, allowing only free text and voice search.

PROS:

• Four-step filtering process ensures that all images are appropriate for kids
• Downloaded images automatically cite author and image license terms
• Voice search
• No account required

CONS:

• Limited search capabilities
• No category list for browsing

Pexels

A top resource not only for free stock images, but also free stock videos. Pexels hosts photo and video challenges for multiple categories, with professional photography equipment awarded to winners. While you’ll find many high-quality images and videos on Pexels, there’s no category list or dedicated color search, so finding a specific image may take longer. No account is required, but create a free account to collect your favorites and contribute your own images and videos. Currently, 28 languages are supported.

PROS:

• Search by keyword, orientation, size, color, popularity, user, or upload date
• License rules clearly explained
• 28 languages supported
• User challenges

CONS:

• No comprehensive category list for browsing

Freepik

With photos, vector images, Photoshop (PSD) files, customizable icons, easy-to-edit illustrations, and an online template editor, Freepik is a one-stop shop for free images and image tools. Freepik's, freemium model provides a generous selection of high quality free content, although free users are limited to ten daily downloads.

PROS:

• Easy sign in with Google, Apple, or email.
• High-quality photos, vectors, illustrations, 3D models, video snippets, and more
• Filters let users search by keywords, free or premium, orientation, color, AII-generated, file type, popularity, and more
• Built-in editing tools for images and videos.

CONS:

• Free plan limited to 10 downloads daily.
• No access to premium images with free plan
• Attribution required for free downloads.

Unsplash

Thousands of free sometimes ordinary—but often eye-popping—images include categories such as nature, current events, technology, and many more suitable for education use. Most are free to download and use according to the Unsplash License, with the exception of premium (Unsplash+) content. A fun feature for contributors is the “Made With Unsplash” page, which showcases creative remixes of its images. Unsplash provides strong support for its contributors, so it's a great place for young photographers to get started sharing their work.

PROS:

• Many interesting, unusual, and stylish images to choose from
• Search by keyword or image
• Four download sizes
• Users can upload their own work
• Clear rules for licenses and attribution
• No account required

CONS:

• Premium content mixed with free content in searches
• Lacks comprehensive category list for browsing

Kaboompics

A professional-looking site featuring free high-quality photos in diverse categories, from lifestyle to technology to healthcare. Users can search by category, color of the spectrum and image orientation. A nifty perk is that each photo includes a free downloadable complementary colors palette. No account required.

PROS:

• Each image includes a specific color palette with color hex codes
• Custom size and orientation downloads
• Search by keyword, category, color, recency, or popularity
• Photoshoots are a great way to explore a theme
• Clear license and attribution rules

CONS:

• Sometimes tricky to distinguish premium photo blocks from free content
• "View more" button links to paid image site

NegativeSpace

A stylish and professional-looking site offering a wide variety of free, high-resolution Creative Commons CC0 photographs as well as free virtual backgrounds for videoconferencing and remote teaching. More than two dozen categories are available, from Abstract to Virtual Backgrounds. Search by category, hashtag and color. Be sure to check out the awesome outer space photos! No account required.

PROS:

• Easy to navigate interface
• Browse two dozen categories

CONS:

• Keyword search is somewhat unreliable
• No choice of download size

Gratisography

Gratisography is a great resource for creative and quirky stock photos and vector images. It's not only fun to browse, but also provides a clear, plain-language explanation of what users can and can’t do with the photos. Search by topic or browse categories including nature, food, urban and more. Collections range from “AI Generated” to “Artsy Architecture" to “Goofy Grownups” to “Hijinks Hands.” Although the site is heavy on whimsy, it’s not light on quality -- vectors and images appear to be professionally composed and executed.

PROS:

• Unusual, uncommon, and amusing high-quality images
• Search by keyword or browse categories and collections
• Clear license terms
• No account required

CONS:

• No attribution provided for images
• AI-generated images are not always labeled as such

Flickr Commons: The Commons

The Commons, from the photo-sharing site Flickr, serves as a free catalog of the world’s public photos with no known copyright restrictions, contributed by dozens of government and academic bodies. Comments from Flickr members provide context and additional information for many images. Search by subject, color, black and white, or seven different license options. Safe search option available.

PROS:

• Search by keyword, license, color, pattern, Flickr members, and themed groups
• Safe search available
• Users can contribute their own content
• Wide variety of image download sizes
• Great for historical images

CONS:

• Because contributors may disable downloading, not all images can be used
• License terms not always clear
• Account required
• Relatively high percentage of older content of varied quality

Vector Characters

A relatively simple site, Vector Characters focuses on character-based vector art in categories such as man, woman, child, robot, etc. For adding a touch of whimsy or humor to any school project, check out the Fruit Vector, Monster Vector, and Animal Vector categories. Free and premium content. Find free content by entering "free" in the search box.

PROS:

• No account required
• Hundreds of free vector images.
• Browse by category or character type.
• Informative blog posts

CONS:

• Limited search options
• No photos or other types of illustrations

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Fortunately, in the age of computers, smartphones, and the internet, teachers and students already have the tools to readily record and access digital images. And the top free image editing tools below will help users enrich assignments, convey information, or even create art.

The following image editing sites and software range from straightforward and convenient to powerful tools that rival Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. All are fully free or offer a robust free basic account.

Best Free Image Editing Sites 

Canva Free Online Photo Editor
A freemium browser-based editor that allows users to easily upload and edit images by adding text, graphics, drawings, stickers, and other elements such as charts and graphs, Canva Free Online Photo Editor also allows users to incorporate audio and video files. Free users can upload up to 5GB of media, while Canva for Education and Canva for Nonprofits users can upload up to 100GB. Bonus: K-12 teachers are eligible to upgrade to Canva for Education at no cost.

OIE Online Image Editor
Fully free browser-based image editor that requires no login and is a breeze to use. Add text, speech bubbles, borders, or transparencies, and convert file types with a few clicks. Both basic and advanced tools are intuitive to use, and the Help page offers tips for making the most of everything. Available in 10 languages, including English, Spanish, German, and French.

Pixlr For Education
A GDPR-, CCPA-, and COPPA- compliant version of Pixlr that’s fully free for teachers, students, education professionals, and NGOs, Pixlr for Education is a super easy-to-use site with a clean stylish interface that’s great for students of any skill level. Simply upload your image and start using the tools provided, including text, animations, special effects, filters, touchup, and more. Not sure what you want to do? Check out Pixlr’s fine collection of video tutorials for users here.

Photopea
Billing itself as an advanced image editor, Photopea supports multiple popular formats such as PSD (Photoshop), XCF (Gimp), XD (Sketch App), and CDR (CorelDRAW). The generous free account allows all features, while going premium adds history steps and removes ads.

iPiccy
On this deceptively simple site, visitors will find a wide range of free photo, collage, and design tools. Upload images and start editing and creating right away. Check out the features page to quickly link to tutorials on professional-style techniques such as editing backgrounds, retouching, and meme creation. Fully free.

 Best Free Image Editing Software 

Krita
A full-featured free software download that allows users to create and edit images and illustrations using a robust suite of tools similar to those found in Photoshop. With its extensive capabilities, Krita naturally has a relatively steep learning curve compared to simpler photo-editing options. Fortunately, Krita hosts a comprehensive online user guide as well as the Krita YouTube channel, which offers dozens of videos covering the basics as well as detailed tutorials on individual tools. Downloads are available for Windows, macOS, and Linux Appimage.

Photo Pos Pro
A free downloadable image software for creating, enhancing, and editing images that includes a wide range of brushes, filters, and effects. Users have the convenient option to open the software in pro or novice interface, while the user guide provides solid direction on the basics of photo editing as well as tutorials on common tools and techniques. Be sure to check out the online AI-powered automatic photo fix, which quickly sharpens images and corrects color and lighting.

GIMP
GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program) is considered by many to be the best free alternative to Photoshop. Building on more than two decades of development as an open-source program, Gimp is widely employed by both amateurs and professionals to create and edit images and illustrations of every kind. Tutorials and multiple online forums are helpful for beginners as well as more experienced users. Ideal for high school graphic arts projects. Linux/Windows/MacOs.

Paint.net
Often cited as one of the best free Photoshop alternatives, Paint.net is full-featured software with all the bells and whistles, from layers to plugins to unlimited history. A robust users’ forum offers a great way to discover how to make the most of this potent imaging software. Windows.

Inkscape
A free, open source vector graphic design tool to rival Adobe Illustrator. Features include a diverse set of drawing, shape, text, and transformation tools, as well as tutorials and forums to learn how best to use this powerful freeware. Linux/Windows/MacOs.

Reshade
A super-light and fast free image resizing software, Reshaden is designed to do one thing very well—resize/enlarge, enhance, and crop images without loss of resolution. It’s extremely easy to use, but watch the brief tutorial first for an even better result. Windows.

Ashampoo Photo Commander Free
From the German software company Ashampoo comes a free image-editing download, designed with powerful features—but not with a steep learning curve. Windows.

iRFanView
A free, fast and lightweight download that supports multiple languages, dozens of file types, and easy batch conversions. Windows.

Best Free AI Image Generators

What Is Canva And How Does It Work For Education?

Put to the test—3 Image Editing Apps for Tablets

Digital image libraries are essential to today’s teachers and students. Yet while stock image sites such as Shutterstock, iStock, and Getty Images offer an impressive selection of high-quality images and vector illustrations, these sites are typically beyond the budget of most school districts. 

Fortunately, the image and clip art sites below provide an extensive supply of moderate- to high-quality visuals for cost-conscious schools. Most of these sites are completely free, and most have a clear license/FAQ page explaining what uses are allowed or prohibited. 

15 Sites for Finding Images and Clip Art for Education

1. Find Icons
   A comprehensive source of more than 500,00 free vector icons and icon packs that allows users to search by keyword, size, style, color, or popularity. Bonus features include an image converter and discount codes for the stock image site iStock. 
2. Flickr Commons: The Commons
   The Commons, from the photo-sharing site Flickr, serves as a free catalog of the world’s public photos with no known copyright restrictions, contributed by dozens of government and academic bodies. Comments from Flickr members provide context and additional information for many images. Safesearch option available. 
3. FreePhotoBank
   This stock photo site offers hundreds of free stock images, all having a Creative Commons Attribution alone license. The pictures of FreePhotoBank are free to download, use, and modify with attribution. Search by image category tiles, such as buildings, flowers, or animals. 
4. Freepik
   With photos, vector images, Photoshop (PSD) files, customizable icons, easy-to-edit illustrations, and a beta online template editor, Freepik is a one-stop shop for free images and image tools. Free and premium content.
5. Gratisography
   Gratisography is a great resource for creative and quirky stock photos and vector images, highlighting unusual finds such as “Walking Hands,” “Scared Man,” and “Rhino Party.”  It's not only fun to browse, but also provides a clear, plain-language explanation of what users can and can’t do with the photos. 
6. Kaboompics
   A professional-looking site featuring free high-quality photos in diverse categories, from lifestyle to technology to healthcare. A nifty perk is that each photo includes a free downloadable complementary colors palette. 
7. KIdaha.com
   A fun, kid-focused clip art site featuring human and monster characters. Paid and free content. 
8. NegativeSpace
   A stylish and professional-looking site offering a wide variety of free, high-resolution Creative Commons CC0 photographs as well as free virtual backgrounds for videoconferencing and remote teaching. Be sure to check out the awesome abstract and outer space photos!
9. OpenClipArt
   One of the oldest free clip art sites offers a collection of more than 160,000 vector graphics, all in the public domain. Download as PNG or SVG files. Includes a handful of NSFC (Not Safe For Classroom) works. Artistic students or teachers can create an account and upload their own artwork.
10. Pexels
    A top resource not only for free stock images, but also free stock videos. Pexels hosts photo and video challenges for multiple categories, with professional photography equipment awarded to winners. Create a free account to collect your favorites and contribute your own images and videos. 
11. Photos For Class
    This education-focused site provides everything teachers and students need to find and use Creative Commons photos for school assignments. The four-step filtering process ensures that all images are appropriate for kids—and they make it easy to properly attribute photos.
12. Pics4Learning
    A safe, curated image library for classroom assignments, school websites, or any education-related project, Pics4Learning’s images cover a diverse spectrum of subjects, from American Sign Language to Fractals to Weather. Contribute your own JPEG or PNG images. 
13. Pixabay
    In just ten short years, Pixabay has grown to be one of the best-known and most comprehensive image sharing sites. Here visitors can explore and download collections of photos, illustrations, vector images, videos, and even music. All are free to download and free to use under the Pixabay license, which is a modified  Creative Commons CC0 license. Pixabay shines in another way as well—its blogs and forums keep users apprised of the latest news and tips to make the most of the site. 
14. Unsplash
    Thousands of free, sometimes ordinary—but often eye-popping—images include categories such as nature, current events, technology, and many more suitable for education use. All are free to download and use according to the Unsplash License. A fun feature for contributors is the “Made With Unsplash” page, which showcases creative remixes of its images. Unsplash provides strong support for its contributors, so it's a great place for young photographers to get started sharing their work. 
15. Vector Characters  
    A relatively simple site, Vector Characters focuses on character-based vector art in categories such as man, woman, child, robot, etc. For adding a touch of whimsy or humor to any school project, check out the Fruit Vector, Monster Vector, and Animal Vector categories. Free and premium content. 

• Put to the test—3 Image Editing Apps for Tablets
• How to Use a Document Camera for Remote Learning

Ansel Adams, famous for his black and white nature photography, was born February 29, 1902.  Check out more information about his timeline, images and books.

Brought to you by Knovation, powered by ACT  

Stunning photos and in-depth stories of Earth's peoples and wildlife

Pros: Tapping into an expertise in photography, international coverage, and wildlife reportage, the site provides an amazing array of learning resources.

Cons: Teaching resources are limited; some of the wildlife videos and photos show predators in scenes that could scare very young kids.

Bottom Line: This large collection of multimedia resources teaches younger students about animals, habitats, countries, and cultures.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

As a learning tool the tablet has been proven day-in and day-out in a variety of schools with online curriculum, e-books and the platform’s ability to squeeze a full computer into something small, light and cheap. Add image editing to the tablet’s triumphs because there’s a wide assortment of apps for everything from changing a photo’s color balance and contrast to making an image fit on social media to creating collages. The best part is that if you shop carefully, it can all be free.

While Apple’s Photo Booth and the iPad’s built-in image editing tools are good, they are rudimentary with the ability to alter the basics. Using an iPad Pro, I sifted through dozens of free image-editing apps for tablets and came up with these three programs that take image editing to a new level and easily fit into the classroom. However, each focus on a different aspect of turning raw images into works of art.

Photoshop Express

Adobe’s Photoshop may be the standard of comparison for image editing but there are several choices for tablets, including the free Photoshop Express app. Available for Androids, Chromebooks, iPhones and iPads, Photoshop Express squeezes a lot of potential into a small package but lacks things provided in Adobe’s paid programs, like Lightroom CC.

While Express requires students to register, this allows them to tap into their online Creative Cloud account for instant access to gigabytes of images. Adobe also provides lots of teaching resources from lesson plans to how-to guides.

To get started, just pick an image from the iPad or shoot one directly into Express’s interface. With the ability to do everything from changing formats and adding stickers to correcting for red eye and dehazing images, the app has loads of potential. Below the image is a row of editing tools, including cropping, applying Themes, adding text and framing the image.

The beauty of Photoshop Express is that each of these editing choices provides several potential changes. For example, cropping not only lets you cut the image freeform but to correspond to specific aspect ratios, such as for an Instagram or Facebook posting. On the downside, for some of the processes the identifying text for the choices can get misaligned, making it hard to figure out which is which.

While it lacks truly advanced techniques, like turning the image into tiles or folding it geometrically, Photoshop Express does a lot with a little, and can turn students into image artists.

Where to get it:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adobe.psmobile&hl=en_US

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/photoshop-express-photo-editor/id331975235

Snapseed

Attempting to streamline image editing on a tablet, Snapseed has a simple, straight-forward process that can let students ignore the nitty-gritty and concentrate on the result. In other words, it lets the creative juices flow.

Created by Google, Snapseed is free and works with Androids, Chromebooks and iOS systems. You don’t have to register but Google provides only minimal help in getting started. That’s OK because most of Snapseed is self-explanatory and several third parties have created lesson plans for this app.

Using its editing and effects starts with tapping the “+” link on its plain opening page. After that, pick from among system’s gallery of images, the most recent ones or shoot directly from the tablet’s camera.

In addition to a useful auto-adjust and preset Themes, like Fine Art, Structure and Pop, Snapseed places a wide variety of editing techniques in front of students. Feel free to play with the image’s brightness, contrast and color saturation. I was able to take this to a higher level by adjusting the image’s warmth as well as play-up or -down its shadows and highlights. There are add-on filters for giving the image a vintage look, adding drama to the image and making a photo to appear as if it’s from an old movie. I spent a bit of time playing with the double exposure effect that layers images on top of each other for a ghostly effect.

The good news is that each filter has several choices available, making it great for experimentation. Nothing is saved until you accept the changes.

One of the easiest ways to add everything from a frame or text to a sophisticated lens blur, many of the effects are complicated but Snapseed’s interface makes them seem simple and a matter of picking the one that looks best.

Where to get it:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/snapseed/id439438619

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.niksoftware.snapseed&hl=en_US

JellyBus Moldiv

Rather than concentrating on photo editing, Moldiv is the easiest route to making all sorts of artistic collages. Advanced tools for adjusting and enhancing images take a back seat to assembling pictures together into an integrated whole.

The program can be used with iPhones, iPads, Androids and Chromebooks. JellyBus has rudimentary tutorials and third parties have created guides for a wide variety of projects online, including making holiday cards.

Moldiv provides a competent image editor with dozens of filters for making changes, but the focus is on collages. The first step is to choose the template you want to use from the hundreds available. There are simple quadrants, ones that end up looking like tangram puzzles and templates that are very complex with large and small slots for pictures. All can be adjusted by dragging the border between images and even rounding the corners of the images.

Beware, the program may be free, but it displays ads and there’re extension packs that cost between $2 and $5 that add to the program’s depth. Still, the base Moldiv has plenty to bring out the inner artist in all of us with a variety of solid and patterned backgrounds. It’s the best bet for arranging photos for printing as a poster or viewing online.

There’s nothing to register. Just tap on a section and then grab the first image from the tablet’s gallery or shoot from the tablet’s camera. The shot is automatically placed in the frame. Keep going with other shots and then add a caption and you can save it as any of three resolutions.

The key to Moldiv’s success is that regardless of which images you use, the app automatically adjusts their brightness, color and tone. The result is that all the shots look good together. Along the way, the app has several YouTube how-to videos that can help get the project going.

If you’re looking for a way to document a school assembly, graduation or play, there’s no better way than to create an artistic montage with Moldiv.

Where to get it:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jellybus.Moldiv&hl=en_US

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/moldiv-photo-editor-collage/id608188610

Blackmagic Design today announced that High School Nation is using Blackmagic Design’s URSA Mini Pro as their main cameras with the organization’s nationwide high school outreach program. The URSA Mini Pro cameras were recently used by High School Nation to film interviews at the NFL 2019 Pro Bowl and Major League Baseball’s 2019 Spring Training events.

High School Nation was founded in 2014 by Jimmy and Mike Cantillon when their efforts to help their younger sibling’s band find a place to perform evolved into a nationwide effort to support schools and young artists. 

Cantillon and his team regularly takes student broadcasters to such events as the NFL Pro Bowl, NBA Summer League, MLB All-Star Week and more. But their beginnings were much simpler. At the start, HSN focused on radio broadcast by encouraging young, up and coming musical artists to stop by high school radio stations for an interview. Often this was followed by an on campus performance during lunch. From there, it seemed a logical extension to move into digital production.

HSN Videographer Ryan Slattery welcomed the upgrade to the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K, simply because it gave them professional options. “The footage quality is amazing. After shooting S-Log 3 for years, we found codec transition relatively smooth, but the 10-bit color depth is an important improvement. As a package, the URSA Mini Pro did give us an easier set up, by already having a monitor (with LUTS), having the XLR inputs, and the built in shoulder mount already in place,” said Slattery.

Moving from DSLR technology into an URSA Mini Pro was a leap, but one that was welcome by HSN and the students, who had the opportunity to put the systems together and experience the setup as they prepared for their interviews. “They all commented, including the teachers, on how much better their on campus departments would be if they had access to gear like this,” said Cantillon. “They were blown away.”

High School Nation hopes to continue expand their programs, and intends to push further into digital production.  “We want to help schools start classes and eventually full departments that focus on these careers,” said Cantillon.  "We want to help them set themselves up for life after high school, and head off to college or careers with as much familiarity with new technologies and gear as someone who is in their mid late 20's.”

Siftr

Collect images in the field with simple, collaborative app 

Pros: Large groups can create interactive maps using a variety of devices.

Cons: Teachers will need to think twice about privacy protections before using geotagging with students.

Bottom Line: An easy way to crowdsource location-based data. 

Read more here. 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

Snapseed

Extremely powerful photo editor will equally delight pros, amateurs 

Pros: Professional-level editing tools, including RAW image capability.

Cons: Assumes some familiarity with photo editing. Students must leave app to get all the help resources.

Bottom Line: It successfully walks the fine line of photo-editing features, offering satisfying experiences for those making quick edits and those crafting perfect images.

Read more here. 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education  

Google has a rich history of creating map-related tools that can be used across all subject areas for engaging, immersive learning experiences. Some of these include Tour Builder, Earth, Expeditions, My Maps, and many more (see my slideshow on Google mapping tools).

Recently Google has launched a new tool called Google Tour Creator. This tool allows you and your students to create 360 degree tours, which can then be shared with and viewed by others. It is very much like creating your own Google Expeditions.

Don't have a 360 degree camera? That's ok! Although you can use a 360 degree camera to take pictures for Tour Creator, you can also just use the images from Google's Street View, or you can use a free mobile app such as Cardboard Camera to take the photos.

• Scenes from a novel
• Locations from a historical event
• Biomes from around the world
• Highlights of a city in a different country
• Biographical information from a person's life
• A student-written fictional story
• And much more!

In this post we will explore Google Tour Creator and detailed directions on how you and your students can create your own tours today.

As mentioned above, Google Tour Creator is an online tool that lets you and your students create immersive 360 degree tours which can be shared with and viewed by others. The tour will be made of multiple scenes, each of which can contain:

• 360 degree images
• Voice narration
• Text descriptions
• Points of interest
• Image overlays

The 360 degree images that are used to create the tour can come from several sources including:

• A 360 degree camera
• The Google Cardboard Camera mobile app
• Google Street View

When the tour is done and shared, it can be viewed in many different ways including:

• On your normal computer screen
• Embedded in a website
• On a mobile device
• With Google Cardboard on a VR headset (for a more immersive experience)

To learn how to use this awesome tool, I took some time to create a tour of my own. The educational service center I work at, SPARCC, recently moved to a new location, so I thought it would be beneficial to create a virtual tour of our new place.If you would like to try out the sample tour I created, you can use the link below:

https://poly.google.com/view/51KGREYfW52

If you would like to explore tours created by other people, you can browse through a wide variety of tours on Google's Poly website at:

https://poly.google.com/tours

While playing the tour, here are a few options for navigating and controlling the tour. You can:

• Click the gear icon in the top right corner to turn narration on or off. and to turn the ambient audio on or off.
• Click the full-screen button to switch between full-screen and windowed view.

• Click the scene title at the bottom to view notes for that scene.
• Click the arrows at the bottom to move back and forth between scenes.

Additionally if you are on a mobile device, you can:

• Click the cardboard button to switch to VR mode (and then put your phone inside a Google Cardboard viewer).
• Click the 360 degree button to switch how you move the view (dragging with your finger or moving the mobile device)

Creating a Tour

Now that you have had a chance to try our a tour or two, how about creating one of your own? Here's how:

• Start by going to the Tour Creator site at: https://vr.google.com/tourcreator/
• Click "Get Started".

• You can now click "New tour" to start with a blank tour, or you can click "Templates" if you would like to make a copy of an already existing tour (sometimes this can be helpful when first learning the tool to see what other people have made).

For these directions we will go with clicking on "New tour" to start blank.

• You will now get a page where you can enter the basic information for your tour.
• You can give your tour a title.
• Optionally, you can add a description and choose a category.

• Finally, you can add a cover photo for your tour by dragging and dropping an image or uploading a picture.
• When ready, click "Create".

Adding a Scene

Now that you have your tour created, you can begin adding scenes. The "Add scene" window should open up by default, but if it does not you can simply click the "Add scene" link in the bottom left corner. You can add a scene in two ways:

• Searching Google Street View
• Uploading a 360 degree photo

Adding a Scene from Street View

Through Street View, Google has collected a massive amount of 360 degree photos from all around the world. These have come from Google's Street View cars, as well as people carrying a Street View camera into difficult-to-reach locations. So even if you do not have your own 360 degree camera, you can still use the millions of photos available from Google.

• Type in an address to search.
• Drag the "pegman" icon around the map to anywhere with blue lines or circles (which indicate places where Street View images exist).
• Click "Add scene" when done.

Uploading an Image for a Scene

In addition to the existing Street View images, you can also upload your own 360 degree photos.

If you wish to use a 360 degree camera to take the pictures, here are some that are currently approved to work with Tour Creator:

• Ricoh Theta S, V, or SC
• LG 360 camera
• Mi Xiaomi Sphere 360
• Insta 360 one
• Samsung Gear 360

If you do not have a 360 degree camera, that is still ok, since you can actually just use your phone. There are many apps that will allow your phone to take a 360 degree picture. Usually the app will have you turn around in a circle while it takes a bunch of pictures, then it will stitch those images together into a 360 degree photo.

[Turn Google Slides into an Animated GIF with this Free Tool]

One great mobile app for this is Cardboard Camera from Google. You can download this free app with the links below:

• Android version
• iOS version

Now that you have added a 360 degree photo to create a scene, you can edit several aspects of the scene. This can include text, audio, points of interest, image overlays, and more. See below for details on how to do this.

In the top right corner of the scene you can type in text for the following items:

• Title
• Location
• Description
• Credits

In addition to typing in text, you can also add audio to the scene. This allows you to add narration for the scene, such a reading what you typed for the description, or adding ambient sounds from the location. To add audio, click the buttons below the text boxes:

• Add ambient audio (10 to 30 seconds)
• Add scene narration

At the moment, Tour Creator does not have an option for recording your audio in the program, so you will need to record and save your sound files ahead of time using some other tool. The files must be saved in MP3 format.

There are many options for recording audio depending on the type of device you are using. If you are looking for something free and web-based (such as for a Chromebook) here are two that I have used and can recommend:

• Click the mic button to start recording.
• Click the stop button when done.
• Trim the start and end if needed.
• Click "Save".
• The MP3 file will be downloaded.

TwistedWave - https://twistedwave.com/online

• Free for up to 5 minutes at a time
• Can download as MP3
• Has advanced editing tools
• Works on Chromebooks
• Works with Google Drive

Adding Points of Interest

You can also add points of interest to a scene. This will place an "i" icon on a spot you choose in the scene to highlight something. You can then add text, audio, and even an image to the point of interest to provide additional information to the viewer. Here's how:

• Click "Add point of interest".
• Drag the "i" icon to a spot in the scene.
• Type in a title.
• Type in a description.

Optionally, you can also add audio and an image overlay to the point of interest:

• Add sight narration - Click this button to upload an MP3 audio file as before.
• Add image overlay - Click this button to upload a picture to display when the point of interest is selected.

After you have created a scene, you can continue to add more scenes with the "Add scene" link at the bottom. Once you have several scenes, they will be listed in a strip at the bottom of the screen. You can manage them as follows:

• Click the 3-dots button next to a scene title to move scene left or right.
• Click the trash can icon below a scene title to delete a scene.

Publishing a Tour

When you have finished creating your tour, it is now time to publish it. It is necessary to publish the tour for people to be able to view it, including yourself. Here's how:

• First click the "Publish" button.
• If you are editing your tour, the publish button will be at the top.
• If you are on the Tour Creator home page, the publish button will show up on the title card for your tour.
• For the "Visibility" option, you need to choose if your tour is publicly searchable or if people need you to give them the link to view the tour.
• If you choose "Public" then people can search for your tour on the Poly website.
• If you choose "Unlisted" then people will need you to provide the link to the tour to be able to view it.
• Click "Publish" when done.

Your tour will now be published and ready to be viewed!

• You can copy the link for the tour to give to people so they can view the tour.
• Or you can click "View tour" to view the tour yourself.

Note: If you edit the tour later to make new changes, you will need to publish the tour again to update those changes in the published version. The published link will not change.

Sharing a Tour

After your tour has been published you can share it with others so they can view it. If you copied the link for your tour as described above, you can simply give that link to others for them to view the tour. If not, you can share the tour as follows:

• From Tour Creator, locate your tour.
• Click the three-dots button.
• Choose "View published tour".
• Once the tour opens, click the "Share" link.
• From here you can copy the link to give to others.
• Or click any of the social media buttons to share the link that way.
• Or you can click the "Embed" button to get code to add the tour to a website.

If you are using the new version of Google Sites, your tour can be embedded right in the Site. From Google Sites you can:

• Click the "Embed" button in the "Insert" panel.
• Paste the code in the "Embed Code" window.
• Click "Next" and "Insert".
• Adjust the size of the embedded tour as needed.

As an example, here is a demo Google Site with my sample tour embedded: Google Site example

Conclusion

With Tour Creator, Google provides another engaging tool for creativity and learning. Students can come face-to-face with experiences from the other side of the world, or tell a story from their own town.If your students create projects with Tour Builder, please consider sharing their work in the comments below, as well as publishing to the Poly website for students everywhere to enjoy.

cross posted at www.controlaltachieve.com

Eric Curts is an education trainer and consultant with over 20 years' experience throughout the U.S. He is an authorized Google Education Trainer and a Google Certified Innovator. Read his blog at www.controlaltachieve.com and follow him on Google+ and @ericcurts on Twitter.

For most of us we have just two options when it comes to group photos. Say cheese is the standard. Okay, be silly, is next. Second grade teacher Shira Moskivitz has figured out a way to make boring class or staff photos a thing of the past. She has come up with dozens of other picture prompts teachers can use to make this year's class photo stand out.

#NYCSchoolsTech Superhero Trainer Team

Check out the funny face picture list below and find the prompts you think your class would like best.

[#BacktoSchool List No No #1 - Graphing Calculators]

- super hero
- favorite food
- someone else pretending to be an asparagus (or other veggie) and you eating them
- pet peeve
- surprise kiss (not necessarily at a professional function but...)
- sleeping
- favorite animal
- spell your name (first initial, or name of event/location)
- evil villain
- mad scientist
- supermodel
- body builder
- soldier
- slow motion run
- wind blown (there's a hurricane and you're being blown off the stairs/chair/etc)
- The Macarana
- Gagnam Style
- Thriller
- Robot
- sad
- nervous
- angry
- that kid...
- bored
- surprised
- one person is "it" and everyone looks at/points to him/her without them knowing
- serious
- hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil
- Mona Lisa
- Edvard Munch’s, The Scream
- riding a roller coaster
- playing basketball/baseball/soccer/hockey
- fake fight with neighbor
- group high five
- too cool for school
- salute
- ballerinas
- hold as many/big objects in your hands as possible (bonus if they're relevant to event/location)
- poker face
- strange object on your head
- pour water on one unsuspecting member of the group as you take the picture
- boy band album cover
- hug someone else/ group hug
- karate pose
- touch someone else's head
- swimming fish
- cowboys
- point at someone random within (or outside) the picture

Lisa Nielsen (@InnovativeEdu) has worked as a public-school educator and administrator since 1997. She is a prolific writer best known for her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator. Nielsen is the author of several books and her writing has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Tech&Learning, and T.H.E. Journal.

This site features 11 amazing nature photographs answering questions like Do bees like caffeine? Are spiders omnivores? What does it feel like to be left out when you want to join a group? Habitat Network, a citizen science project from Cornell University, collects data by asking individuals across the country to draw maps and take pictures of their backyards, parks, farms, favorite birding locations, schools, and gardens. It also offers a link to tips for taking beautiful landscape photos and step-by-step instructions to upload photos.

[Weather Dude: Weather Forecasting]

courtesy of Knovation

If you have the time, ask students to find images to add to a project photo album for everyone to use. Be sure to remind them about copyright rules and the need to cite the original source.

Pro Tip: you can add a comment to a photo which includes a citation and link to the original source.

Document learning and the development of a project by taking photos at the beginning, middle, and end of the assignment. Use the animation feature of Google Photos to create a time lapse of the project, showing how it evolved and changed over time.

Here's an example of some books that I have read this year.

6. Share with parents

Once you have a collection of classroom photos you can use facial recognition to find all of the photos of an individual student, place them in an album, and send them to their parent to show what they have been doing in class. Sharing pictures is a great positive connection you can make with parents.Note: make sure that you follow your school's policies on taking photos of students. Most schools have a media release that parents sign at the beginning of the school year, giving permission for their student to appear in classroom photos.

cross posted at electriceducator.blogspot.com

John Sowash creates useful resources for educators on his blog, The Electric Educator. John is the author of The Chromebook Classroom and founder of the Google Certification Academy. You can connect with John on Twitter (@jrsowash) and Instagram.

Many teachers are good at taking lots of photos of their students and their learning. Besides posting to social media, what other things do you do with those images?

— Dean Shareski (@shareski) March 8, 2018

I’m always curious about what people do with their photos either personally or professionally. Abundance doesn’t always translate to usefulness. Which is what prompted my question and specifically to go beyond posting to Twitter, which is great but had me wondering about other ideas.

I had a number of great responses. While folks could find them by searching my feed, I like being able to collect them and share them better. Storify used to be a great tool but it died. Twitter moments is a nice option but recently found out about Wakelet which does tweets but like Storify allows you to add content from other sources. At any rate, here are the ideas shared.

cross-posted at ideasandthoughts.org

Disclaimer: This weblog contains the opinions and ideas of Dean Shareski. While there may be references to my work and content which relates directly to my work, the ideas are mine alone and are not necessarily shared by my employer.

Dean Shareski is the Community Manager of the Canadian DEN (Discovery Educators Network) and lecturer for the University of Regina. With 24 years of experience as a K12 educator and consultant, he specializes in the use of technology in the classroom. Read more at ideasandthoughts.org.

Pedagogy is about the techniques, methods and strategies teachers use to facilitate learning for their students. Pedagogical Documentation is about documenting in order to do just that: facilitate learning for our students. Heutagogy is centered around self-motivated and self-directed learning. Heutagogical Documentation is about documentation in order to become more self-aware and to fuel our motivation to learn as well as support us in making decision of what we want/need to learn next.

My work and research centers around documentation OF, FOR and AS learning. I believe when we make documentation part of our learning process, we become more aware of details and nuances, we reflect deeper, we learn more about ourselves as learners and make thinking and learning visible that otherwise would have been hidden under the surface. This is not done as an add-on, but becomes deeply ingrained in the learning process.

I would like to invite you to the 1-DayBlue Photo Challenge, a challenge to become meta cognitively aware of the process of documentation and how it changes the way you view your surroundings, look more in detail at contrasts, similarities, meanings, changes, trends, groupings, status quo, the proverbial box, creativity, etc.

Here is how it works:

1. Choose one specific day for the challenge (24 hours)
2. Take time to look for and notice all of the blue in the world around you.
3. Take (capture) as many photographs as you like, but remember that you can only post one photograph that you believe best defines blue in your world. (Be aware of how often you you think about the color blue? How you take into consideration that you will have other people seeing your “Photo of Blue”? How is the photograph and the color blue connected to your life?,etc.)
4. By the end of your day, upload and share your photograph to Twitter or Instagram, using the hashtag #documenting4learningblue
5. Add a comment to the post that explains why this representation of blue is important to you. Reflect how participating in the challenge made you more aware of blue and in what way.
6. Optional: Extend and amplify your experience by writing a blog post, reflecting on your experience of noticing blue, taking images of blue, filtering all images of blue and then selecting the ONE image you shared on social media. How can you relate your experience with documenting AS learning? How did the thinking of “documenting all things blue” as you were looking for and photographing blue deepen your understanding of blue and what it means in connection to your life? (Please leave the link to your blog post in the comment section below)

cross posted at langwitches.org/blog

Silvia Tolisano is a Curriculum21 faculty member, author of the book Digital Storytelling Tools for Educators and founder of the Around the World with 80 Schools project. Read more at http://langwitches.org/blog.