Social Bookmarking is a term that I had not heard prior to this course at Full Sail. The term refers to a web 2.0 tool that is used to save links to your favorite sights, so you as a reader can refer to those sights by the simple touch of a link. Social bookmarking goes a step further than the standard bookmarking tools that I have used, because these Social bookmarks are set up in an account that is online. The account is accessible from any computer, whereas the traditional bookmarks are remembered only on a reader’s personal computer.
Educators will find this tool beneficial while searching for content and research relevant to their studies and teaching. Whether searching authors, artists, biographies, cultures, or history, teachers can organize their findings using social bookmarking as their virtual folder. Beside the benefit of bookmarking using this Web-based service, a teacher can also tag the bookmarks. This means a teacher would write a few descriptive words about the site they are going to save, and those words are then attached to that link for organizational purposes. Bookmarks are alphabetized and also organized by tags. While reading an article by Lorrie Jackson (2009) I learned one additional piece to tagging, “your sites are organized automatically with sites saved by other users, using those same keywords. Thus you benefit from the research of others, while having a far more dynamic and helpful system of organization.”
With so many people using the computer and its ever-evolving tools, educators have an opportunity incorporate networking tools into their classrooms. Social networking and online computer use was studied at University of Minnesota (2008) for it’s educational benefits. Technological proficiency was being seen across the board including low-income students and totaling 94 percent of students studied who used the Internet. Christine Greenhow, a researcher at the university, stated, “Students are also sharing creative original work like poetry and film and practicing safe and responsible use of information and technology. The Web sites offer tremendous educational potential.” Greenhow’s research realized the students’ skills and proficiencies, but pointed out that there are still untapped educational opportunities available using networking technologies
(University of Minnesota, 2008).
At Miami University Jason Abbitt (2009) implemented a Social Bookmarking activity for a ten-week course involving undergraduates pursuing a teaching degree. The assignment was set up as a study to understand the value of bookmarking in an educational setting and how it might be used. One finding was that the users of bookmarking increased their valid site resource references (for lesson planning, and strategies and methods of technology integration) at a higher rate than those who did not use bookmarking. (p. 95)
With this in mind it seems the benefits of collective searches for information and resources could result in quality findings that benefit the user whether and educator or student.
As Clay Shirky’s book made clear with his description of the Birthday Paradox (2008) the number of connections that are formed when even a group as small as thirty-five people correspond, is exponential. In my mind having access to resources that thirty-five or even a thousand people have searched and tagged through Social Bookmarking can very well lead to a useful and beneficial library of information for any teacher or educator.
References:
Abbitt, J. (2009) Evaluating the Implementation of a Social Bookmarking Activity for an Undergraduate Course. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, Retrieved October 11, 2009 from http://www.ncolr.org/jiol/issues/PDF/8.1.5.pdf
Jackson, L. (2009). Education World. Sites to See: Social Bookmarking.
Retreived October 2009 from http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/sites/sites080.shtml
Shirky, C. (2008). Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations. New York: Penguin Press. (p. 25)
University of Minnesota (2008, June 21). Educational Benefits of Social Networking Sites Uncovered. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 11, 2009 from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080620133907.htm
"In my mind having access to resources that thirty-five or even a thousand people have searched and tagged through Social Bookmarking can very well lead to a useful and beneficial library of information for any teacher or educator." And it is all at our (and our student's fingertips). Excellent Beckie!
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