Social bookmarking is the best idea EVER! Before viewing the videos explaining it and researching about it, I was actually feeling as if the idea of social bookmarking was just a waste of time. After research, however, I have discovered that this is the tool that I have been in search of for quite awhile! Everyday I become more and more amazed with the capabilities of Web 2.0.
Currently, my 5th grade students are using Google Sites to create websites about pollution. While they were searching the internet to find information about their topics, I began to realize that it would be beneficial for us to create links to various websites that the students found that hosted general information about the topics. As a result, when the students found a site, they would either have to manually copy the url address or those with email addresses would email me a link to the url address… time consuming and tedious. Within a social bookmarking site, students will be able to tag websites that they find useful and share them instantaneously! Better yet, I would be able to find and post a variety of acceptable links beforehand.
The aforementioned example demonstrates one of the many educational uses for social bookmarking- using websites for student research or projects. Other educational possibilities include: book recommendations, professional research, accessibility of resources for students to work on research at home or school, and to share what you are reading or view what your peers are reading on the web (Muir, 2005).
The practice of social bookmarking is beneficial to both the learner and the educator. Educators can network with other educators in different parts of the world citing websites that may add to knowledge within the field. Additionally, schools could create social bookmark accounts for their different academic departments with teachers within the department contributing to the database of web resources. Educator’s could also use social bookmarking to collaborate on projects with other schools, sharing bookmarks between participating communities (CR 2.0, 2009).
With links to a variety of websites on various topics, learners are able to access information with the click of a button, thus saving valuable learning time and decreasing learning time loss. Social bookmarking also allows learners to converse with others through the sharing of interest-related links. Learners of any age can benefit from social bookmarking because it fosters student learning, facilitates social networking, and enables life-long learning (Everhart, Kunnen, & Shelton, 2007).
Social bookmarking is also a good way to organize websites of interest into categories that are easy to find later. People are using these websites instead of keeping a long list of ‘favorites’ in their own browsers, to organize, rank and display their resources for others to see and use (Solomon & Schrum, 2007). There have been many times where I’ve bookmarked sites on one computer and was disappointed when I searched for those sites on another computer to no avail. There has also been many times where I’ve bookmarked sites, but was unable to figure out how to categorize them, only to lose them in bookmark cyberspace! I am definitely planning to use this tool in my classroom.
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Image from Creative Commons at flickr.com.
"After research, however, I have discovered that this is the tool that I have been in search of for quite awhile! Everyday I become more and more amazed with the capabilities of Web 2.0." You have covered possible uses for education so extensively in this short post. You're excitement and sincerity come though in your voice. Fantastic!
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