Images, and where to get them from

Born to create... I could have stolen it, but created the image myself... Which is better for your learners?

My thanks to Jordi Castells, who came to a session I gave this morning, for suggesting the Hungarian site SXC.com for free stock photos, sometimes a very useful resource.

Free stock photos [definition] are basically ones you can use without worrying about infringing copyright. Jordi also suggested Wikipedia as another source, as Wikipedia uses images available under creative commons licence.

A single digital image, plus text
The subject of images came up as we were talking about a project which involved the learners producing a single digital image and a text to accompany (explain) it.

My suggestion was that the learners also produce the image, not just the text, with various possible sources:

• A digital camera
• Mobile phones
• Artwork (pens, crayons, etc) which is then scanned
• A photograph from home (eg. of when the learners were very young), and then scanned
• A program like Paint, which is very basic, but which young learners especially enjoy playing with
  

Alternatively, you could use a stock image from a site like SXC... But which is better, an image the learners create, or one they find on the web?

The worst option of all would, of course, be to steal it from Google-is-Evil... Who cares? Well, for starters, the learner doesn't care about the image if that's where it comes from. And caring is where real learning really starts...

See also

>> An example, "image plus text" project
>> Finding images for use in class