Pixlr Experience: why you should use pixlr in your classroom

I recently explored the online app, Pixlr, to see if I would be comfortable using it in my classroom. In the example I provided below, I used pictures of different textures and put them into a collage using this app. I’m studying to be an art teacher so I would probably use this app for activities that lead up to a project. For example, I could send my students on a scavenger hunt and have them take pictures of different textures throughout the school. I could then have them pick four of their favorite and have them use pixlr to put them into a collage. From there, I could construct a texture project where they have to use different textures to make into a picture. I would have them reference these pictures and make sure that they add text when editing the pictures so they remember where the texture was, and they would also have a visual of the texture to keep in mind when drawing out what they want to create.

Outside of an art classroom environment, this could be used for students who have to compose posters, or really anything picture related. They could use it for artifacts within their classes. The only thing that I feel would be challenging is using this app is when using the text. Once you add text to a picture, you cannot go back and edit it. This would cause problems if a student typed information onto a picture and then realized that they made a spelling error. Other than that, this tool would be effective in almost any classroom environment depending on the project. I would recommend that it stays within the middle school and high school ages.

The tool has different options as shown below but I picked to explore the collage portion. From there, you can pick what kind of collage you want to construct, such as how many pictures you want to include. Then you have the option of changing the background colors, the spacing between images, and how round you want the frame of your pictures to be. Adding your pictures is also simple as long as you have the pictures uploaded onto the device you are using. Once you add your pictures, you can then edit them by changing filters, rotating, cropping, zooming in, adding text to the pictures, etc.

Overall I do recommend this app for classroom projects and I think it would be a great way to introduce students to photo editing especially for times when they may need to present artifacts.