Google Picasa

For this assignment, I looked at Google Picasa which is a free photo and web-album sharing and editing application that gives it's users 1024 MB (4,000 wallpaper-sized photos) of storage space and offers the following:

• Web albums that will even show your pictures arranged on a global map.
• Organization by people or faces with it's built-in face matching technology, name-tagging ability, as well as ability to geotag your photos using Google maps.
• The ability to edit, crop, order or print photos at home as well as create slideshows, or add your favorite photos to YouTube or to a desktop background or screensaver.
• Upload photos to "collaborative albums" by adding contributors to your page, do advanced searches, or follow friends' photos when marked as a "favorite."
• Automatic comment translations for those comments that you may receive from others around the world that may speak a different language.
• Mobile phone compatibility allowing you to add photos or comment on friends' photos anytime and from anywhere all from your mobile phone.
  

After creating an account and experimenting with Picasa's features, I believe students who have some background knowledge with photo editing would have a pretty easy time using this application. The navigation bars and pull-down menus are easy to access and understand and with the ability to share and even collaborate on photos or projects with others, the possibilities are endless with regards to what one could create.

Because this is a web-based application, great care needs to be taken with monitoring students' activity while on Picasa. Leaving a web-based application and venturing off into inappropriate or unsafe sites or material is always a possibility and must be considered heavily when using such an application. However, the positive aspects of such an opportunity to share photos and comments on class projects and activities, or even geolocate student pictures from family vacations in order to learn more about their world and their communities are all vastly important concepts, and these benefits simply should not be overlooked. Ultimately, Google Picasa is a worthwhile application with some worthy benefits to 21st century teaching and learning.