Using Digital Frames in Schools

You know all the silly names that we as educators like to give our presentations...Well here are a few for digital photo frames:

• "Help! I've been framed"
• "Framing an education"
• "A Framework of knowledge"
• "Framing the future"

I could go on, but instead I'll just share the presentation. There should be enough info to get your school started. It's relatively inexpensive and has lot's of uses.

Sewing machine, pocket camcorder, & a digital photo frame

This week I had a Life Skills teacher come up with a great idea for her sewing unit lessons. She checked out a pocket camcorder and created 4 or 5 video tutorials for the sewing tasks the students were assigned. Then we loaded the videos onto a few digital photo frames. We placed one frame on each sewing table (2-3 sewing machines/table). Throughout each phase of the sewing project, the students could then go back to the digital photo frame and watch a quick tutorial on how to perform the task they were working on. This enabled the students to help themselves, as well as freeing the teacher up to serve more students.

Without digital photo frames the teacher may not have been able to assist all the students in her classroom; we would've had to take laptops out of our mobile lab, leaving other classes short a computer or two.

For $50-60 a piece, these frames were a good addition to our school.

Digital Photo Frames in the classroom

Last year, I had a science teacher approach me with an idea for using digital photo frames in his science class. At first I was skeptical. However, he had some very good ideas and lesson plans ready to back up his idea. So we went for it.

Here are some lesson ideas:

Science - Find pictures online of examples, specimens, etc... Create a lab where students can go from station to station and view images for that lesson. With multiple frames and stations this could be differentiated learning. One station could be images of microscope slides and the next station could feature a video about that particular specimen.

English/Foreign Language - A teacher found images for each of her vocabulary words for that chapter. Then she played the slideshows on the frames during a creative writing session. The students used the images for brainstorming new words to use in their writings.

Art - Teacher finds examples of the type of art they are studying, places them on the frames and has the pictures show randomly arround the classroom. The students use the images as inspiration and guidance for their own art.

PE - Load images and videos of correct technique for each excercise station and have students watch before they do.

General Ed - Create/find tutorial videos and place them on the frames. Students could watch these videos when they have extra time, when you are busy helping other students, or when they missed class.

Librarians - have a featured book of the week, month, etc... and create a book trailer for that book and have it playing on a frame in a reading corner of your libaray.

We bought a set of 6 frames. They were about $50/ea. We also purchased a 6 sd cards and a

multi-card reader. The entire set up cost around $350.

Here are the pros:

• Plays pictures, audio, and video
• PPT converts slides to jpegs (so it plays ppts as well)
• Pocket camcorder = plug-n-play
• Fraction of the cost of a laptop
• Teacher controls 100% of the content
• syncs with PC via USB cable/flash drive/sd card

Here are the cons:

• Most frames require power cord (no internal battery)
• Screen quality not always great (depending on the make & model)
• Must place content for each frame individually (cannot sync multiple at once [unless you have a usb duplicator $800])

If you have other ideas please share them in the comment section below.