What is a quality image?

I have been mulling over what quality might mean when applied to a digital image and have come to the conclusion that it is not an especially useful concept!

Appropriate, yes!

How good an image is can be defined in how well it meets its purpose and this could conceivably be a blurry, poorly lit and composed image taken by a child in a role play area of the classroom that totally encapsulated what was going on for a particular child.

Did you read Presentation Zen (http://www.presentationzen.com/)? Garr Reynolds argues persuasively for the use of professional images in our presentations- getting the right image is important and adds enormously to a professional presentation (presumably the cost of acquiring fantastic images from iStockphoto.com is peanuts compared with the fees that he gets for presenting!- actually I loved the book and will never do bulleted PowerPoints ever again).

Lovely images can take your breath away but we are not just looking to wow our classes.

These images (among others), used as stimulus, were found last week by children in a class who were investigating the dangers of electricity. They provided an excellent introduction and discussion point.

and this one promoted a lot of discussion about insulators and conductors in real life. These are ordinary pictures but they did prove powerful in a particular context and did promote lively discussion.