Recently I was intrigued by a resource Kevin shared on Twitter called Photos for Class. With Photos for Class, you can search and download creative commons images that are automatically cited with the correct attribution (as seen in the image above). Photos for Class uses your keyword searches to scan through the Flickr database of Creative Commons images and deliver a page of filtered images that are safe and licensed for re-use.
Citations are added as a watermark at the bottom of the photo you choose and include the name of the author, the name of the photo, a link to the original photo, as well as the name and type of Creative Commons license that the image was released under. Photos for Class only shows images that are free to use and allow for derivative works, but because Flickr has a huge repository of images, the variety, choice and quality available is often very good for schools.
Proper citation of images is obviously still an incredibly important skill for students to be taught, but for younger students, or just plain convenience, this site is hard to beat. It can also be a great time saver for teachers who know how to cite, but are just looking for some quick, legal images to use while still setting a good example for students who view the images they choose.
And so, it is with due deference that we doff our hat to Mr. Kevin McLaughlin for sharing this useful website for teachers. If you have a resource that you think should be features in our Best of the Web series, we'd love to hear about it. You can connect with us on Twitter, Google+ or Facebook, but if you would prefer to email us you can do that too! :)
~ Jonathan Wylie: Technology Consultant, Grant Wood AEA