This is a reflection on Chapter 6 of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms by Will Richardson, and my experiences implementing the use of this web tool.
Continuing with the theme of organizing information found on the web previously covered in the posting about RSS, social bookmarking is another useful web tool that can aid teachers and students in getting the most out of the Internet for their education. Social bookmarking takes the standard web browser URL bookmarking function one step further, it integrates a persons own bookmarks with those of other people with similar interests. That is, it contains a social component which connects people based on their web searching goals. Through these web searching connections people can share and exchange information amongst each other as if they were researching material in the same library, at the same time. For example, if a small group of students were working together on a research project they could share all the information they find on the Internet amongst each other with a couple of simple clicks and tags instead of a more traditional method such as copying and pasting individual URL's into email messages. Hence, the social bookmarking web tool effectively optimizes the process of sharing information and research found on the web.
Similar to my initial experiences with RSS, I was a bit skeptical when I began experimenting with social bookmarking. The main reason for this is because most, if not all, of my Internet access is conducted from a single computer. And within the one computer I use, I typically only use one type of web browser (Safari). Furthermore, I've yet to encounter a group project or assignment that suffered from a lack of information sharing among my fellow classmates. The entire concept of social bookmarking seemed a bit superfluous to me because I've prospered along well enough without it in my academic career thus far. Nevertheless, I was quite surprised when I began experimenting with social bookmarking.
To begin with, I created an account with the social bookmarking service Delicious. I chose Delicious (delicious.com) based on its minimalist, simple design. When I find a resource on the web that I'd like to bookmark I simply click on the "+ Add to Delicious" button in my Safari toolbar and I'm prompted to add comments or tags about the web page for my personal use in addition to bookmarking the page itself. This is very much like the bookmarking system I've been using already where my bookmarks are listed under one of the various categories in my Safari browser toolbar. I started to realize the difference between my standard method of bookmarking and the use of social bookmarks when I went to my personal Delicious page.
As I started searching topics like ESL education, science education, and teacher standards I found that the search results were a little different from what Google or Yahoo provide. There seems to be an extra layer of refinement in the search results from Delicious, in addition to not being bombarded by advertisements or other visually distracting banners. I easily found a lot of useful resources and promptly began tagging them with keywords for later use, because tagging the bookmarks is where social bookmarking stands out from other search tools. Within an hour I accumulated numerous bookmarks with corresponding tags that effectively organized everything I was finding in a single place. Since the day I initiated my experiment with social bookmarking I've gone back daily to follow up on what I've tagged and discover more information. I found that my web research has been significantly optimized, and I'm going to my Delicious page more often when a simple Google search is insufficient.
I'm excited to be discovering and experimenting with social bookmarking at this time because I intend to use it in my future teaching practice. I envision designing an assignment around research collaboration among my students where they utilize social bookmarking as a tool for communication inside and out of the classroom. Moreover, by creating a common tag for all resources my students and I discover we can build a learning environment more reflective of the type of learning we all do in our everyday occupations.
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