As teachers, we say that we do not want to reinvent the wheel, but as teachers in individual classrooms, we often do. We are often left to our own devices to develop the best ideas to educate our students. However, through social bookmarking, we do not have to be on our own any longer. Each of us has experienced the long Internet searches to find just the right information or ideas. Now, as part of a group, we can see what information other people with similar interests have found and saved. This can greatly reduce the amount of time we spend sorting through all of the irrelevant information available on the Internet and give us more time to tend to all of the other pressing tasks of our day.
Additionally, social bookmarking will improve our personal learning network by providing us with resources, when we need them, to answer the questions that we have. Often questions occur when there is no one around to help. Now, through the use of groups on social networks, we can find the answers when the questions arise, which is when we are actually ready to learn the ideas (not necessarily when someone is ready to present the information).
While these reasons will personally help me as an educator and other educators, social bookmarking can also be beneficial to students. Just as I have questions when there is nobody available to answer them, students do too. If I create a group for my students that provides links to websites that will assist them with completing homework, students would be able to access the information when they need it, instead of just when I choose to present it, thus increasing learning! I would like to create groups for my students that will lead them to information regarding both the current lessons and the grade-level MSA topics. Since we are expecting the students to master both and class time is limited, I think that social bookmarking can be used in conjunction with other Internet technology to assist the students.
Join me on Diigo--leichliter
It is very evident that you really understand the benefit of social bookmarking. So many users only use it at a basic level to have access to their saved links from any computer.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part of Diigo is the groups feature as well. I like the idea of giving students access to some of my links that would benefit them. I was also thinking from reading your post that I could add video links in the student group. That way they could preview topics before class or use it as a review.
I agree that social bookmarking will be a great tool not only for students, but for parents as well. I did not realize until after a week that as an educator there is a different type of account through Diigo. They even suggest you set up a separate account with a different name for classrooms. Students will also be able to collaborate through Diigo, which is an important 21st century tool.
ReplyDeleteThis is the one assignment where I truly appreciate reading everyone's blog. Reading your blog has helped me to gather other ways to use Diigo. Sometimes when you are introduced to new a concept or tool, it is hard to think of ways to implement without reinventing the wheel.
ReplyDeleteYour idea of involving students and parents is what most educators should do. When it comes to tech I'm definitely not trying to reinvent the wheel. These great tech tools will allow me to become a better educator once I learn to implement such technology.
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