Sharing photos of students work

Google has released a new Google Class Photos app. This is great for those you who are using your own cell phone to take photos of students in class. It allows you to take photos directly from the app and then upload them to a class photo album rather than having them stay on your phone's hard drive and getting mixed up with your own personal photos. It is still in beta mode or development but Manaiakalani schools have received an invitation to trail it. I've been using it for a couple of weeks now and I'd have to say I've found it really useful. Plus I don't have to spend time deleting photos from my phone.

1. You will need to sign up here first.
2. Then you receive an email asking them you to join the Class Photo Alpha group.
3. A link will be sent via an email to install the app using either Apple or Android
4. Once installed you will be able to create class albums either on the phone or by going to https://class.photos.google.com/.
5. To add a photo to the album, open the Class photo album app on your phone to take a photo.
6. You have the option to allow uploads using mobile data or only WIFI
7. Once you have taken a photo it automatically uploads to the album and is not stored on your phone.

Photos of students' work or while they're in class and on school trips is a great way to share the wonderful things that are happening during the school day.  When sharing their photos using the google education suite apps like google photos, through blogger or on your class site, the school retains ownership for those photos.   

Sites and applications outside the education suite like Facebook and Instagramm have their own terms and conditions.  Because of the social sharing nature of social networking sites you cannot be guaranteed that any photos shared are not copied by other users, best practice is to use the apps within the Google Education suite for which your Board of Trustees is responsible for.