Why Use This Tool?
Create trading cards of authors, scientists, historical figures, or even concepts you’re trying to teach, such as astronomy, algebraic equations, historical figures (“I’ll trade you two Ben Franklins for an Eleanor Roosevelt!”). Or have your students create trading cards of themselves to help them get to know each other. Other possibilities include creating a calendar with an image related to what you’re teaching that month, or a mosaic with multiple images related to your subject area. The possibilities are endless! As is the time you can spend playing around with these sites—beware!
Activity
- Go to Big Huge Labs (http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/).
- Create a trading card and save it to your computer
- Upload the image to your blog to share with others
Big Huge Labs: http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/
Image Chef: http://www.imagechef.com/
Toon Doo: http://www.toondoo.com/Home.on
(Note: Due to firewall issues I wasn’t able to use the tools to create anything at Toon Doo, but it looks fun.)
Information Literacy Connection
Graphics are a great way to convey information and can add some fun and creativity to your students’ research projects (with your guidance, of course). Encourage your students to create customized images for their PowerPoint presentations, WTVeb pages, and other projects. This is also an opportunity to talk to your students about copyright and licensing issues – some image generators use characters from popular TV shows (The Simpsons, South Park, etc.) – is this legal or part of the Internet free-for-all?
Other Ideas
Librarians at Carleton College are using trading cards as a way to reach their students.
Blog Prompts
- How can you use customized images in your teaching?
- How can students use images to convey information in their research projects?
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