FotoFlexor-Photo

=**FotoFlexor Photo editor** =

Overview:
  Link to FotoFlexor ||  ||< FotoFlexor is a photo editor just like the Phoenix Editor in the Aviary suite. I have included it because this tool is a bit different than Phoenix. These differences make this a tool that teachers who do not have as much time to invest in teaching students how to use the Phoenix application might want to use. FotoFlexor does not require users to login so that can be another positive (no email address required). ||  || 
 * <  [[image:FotoFlexor_logo.jpg width="276" height="40" link="@http://fotoflexer.com/"]]
 * Educational Benefit:**

FotoFlexor is an exceedingly easy tool to use. While Aviary's Phoenix is designed for experienced users of photo editing software, FotoFlexor is aimed at those who do not have such experience. The tool choices and options are straight-forward and obvious. The main tool titles are "Basic, Effects, Decorate, Animations, Beautify, Distort, Layers, and Geek". Even the two more advanced tabs, Layers and Geek, are presented in a simple fashion. The Magic Wand tool is separated into "Smart Resize, Smart Recolor, Smart Cutout". Likewise, the layer tab includes tools such as "Add Images" and "Merge". This brings up another positive aspect of FotoFlexor, if you upload another picture to your work area (canvas) they appear as separate images that you can independently modify. There are many simple effects that you can use in FotoFlexor. You can easily change a picture from a typical photo to a "old time" photo  to an ink stamp. You can edit out blemishes and even smooth out wrinkles. There are a variety of options that are "fun" and would be appealing to students.Faces can be "captured" and added to money. Regular and Glitter text can be added to pictures and you can distort images by making people look larger or skinnier. It is also very easy to download your work and save it as a jpeg, something I was unable to get Aviary's Phoenix to do. Of key importance is that this is a simple to use tool that allows students to modify pictures in order to create their own content.

I have included a video showing a few of the tools and functions of FotoFlexor. media type="custom" key="5272949"


 * Drawbacks:**

With all of special features that FotoFlexor has, it is surprising that something it does not have is its greatest drawback. While there is a drawing tool, there is no tool for inserting geometric shapes or for drawing straight lines. This is problematic if you want students to add content information to pictures.


 * Literature review:**

While FotoFlexor itself does not show in a review of the literature, photo editors do. What I was able to find focused on how photo editors can be used to allow students to create their own content. Constructivist learning theory holds that students are more interested, and learn more, when they can take the content that they are learning and mold it into a format that best meets their learning style. Photo editors are certainly a tool that allows for this creative re-expression of ideas.

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