I teach digital photography, and usually during the course of the semester, several students will try and pass-off an image downloaded from the internet as their own work. Solution? upload the image in question to: TinEye.com and within seconds, the internet source of the image is revealed.

BEFORE I resort to using TinEye, it is very quick to check for the camera settings using Adobe Bridge...just look at the data in: File Properties, Camera Data, and IPTC Core. If those windows look fishy or a devoid of any information, then it is time to do a TinEye search.

Can be used for graphic designs, too. Sneaky students, beware!

As we entered the spring semester, I searched for the most meaningful way to help students review for standardized tests. How could students revisit texts in a way that was creative and personally fulfilling. I proposed to the class that we select sections of our previous reading and transform these quotes into graffiti-style tags, using Photoshop and Illustrator, and paint or post these tags each week on ten large panels hung in the school’s common areas. Each week for approximately one month, students selected quotes from the novels, historical texts and related articles studied in our integrated history and English class, and transformed them into graffiti-style tags. Each week, students brought new quotes to make into new tags, and they tagged the boards, or over and around each other’s work, modified the art, or responded to it creatively. The panels became living environments for literary graffiti, which we named “tagature.” Each week, the students photographed their work, edited the photos in Photoshop and archived them online in digital portfolios, along with written, reflective artists’ statements. After four rounds of “tagature,” students selected their favorite examples of literary graffiti, edited their artist statements and used, Lightroom, Photoshop and InDesign to create a coffee-table-styled art book of the class’ work, which was then sold in the community through a publishing company created by our class. What began as standardized test review led to a living project that spanned visual art, reflective writing, digital archiving and hard copy publishing.

I teach in a very small rural school. The total school population K-12 is only 165. Fortunately our administration and staff still believe that the First Amendment and the Freedom of the Press are vital concepts to teach our students, so we have a vigorous journalism program at Jewell School despite our small size. I use the class not only to teach principles of journalism, however, but to teach principles of graphic design as well as photography. Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Acrobat, Illustrator and Lightroom all make it possible for me to have a class that is not only popular, but is considered vital to our school values.

As a way to encourage collaboration and creativity, this project involves using classes (or teachers) from two different places. Each sends the other approximately 5 photos from their region. The other needs to make an interesting collage using 2 or more of the photos they were given to work with. Then they send back their creation and keep going. As an experiment, I tried this with fellow teacher and Adobe Education Leader, Ross Wallis. He edited the sailboat collage with my photos using Photoshop Touch, and I edited the crow collage with his photos using Photoshop CS6. Mine were taken in the San Francisco Bay Area, and his were taken in Cork, Ireland. Along with this lesson plan/project idea, I'm posting the results of our experiment to get an idea. I think this is a great way to motivate students on a global collaboration level. Students would enjoy the challenge of using someone else's photo, but it is also fun to see what others can do with your photos. It's also a great way to "gamify" the curriculum.

This is an introductory design exercise I created to move my students into using and understanding the dynamics of typography in actual, simple graphic design scenarios. The focus is on creating and thinking/discussing which I heartily encourage you to do as the students work their way through this small challenge. I have intentionally kept the technical, Photoshop requirements pretty straight forward since they are not the focus here. BUT it is still critical that they present their work as finished, polished pieces. I require both the .psd files and the .jpg files so I can see how they built their designs. I have not included the images I use in class. I recommend that you find your own images according to the Fair Use guidelines of your country. BTW - I work in Photoshop Elements 9 because that is what we have for our classroom. I assume you will adapt the exercise to suit your circumstances. And so you know - SKLLBDR is my short hand for skillbuilder. In case you were wondering.