BP5_2009112_social bookmarking

The image with this blog shows just three of about 20 documents I have saved with various links to sites that I use in my classes. I may just have to start using the delicious account I set up a couple of years ago.

The most immediate usefulness that a social bookmarking site like “del.icio.us” offers is a virtual, endless list of hot links related to any subject imaginable. Someone else has already done the work for you. The advantage is that someone has already discovered and marked them for you (Brisco, 2009).

For students, teachers can guide them through a series of acceptable websites that are already available instead of typing in long strings of characters. Students are choosing from a list of acceptable sites created by the teacher on which to base their searches for information. (wiki)

However, one phenomenon I haven’t figured out is the tagging feature. The way users use word tags to identify types of bookmarks may or may not be useful. Grosseck identifies four ways tags are used:
selfish style: tagging for personal benefit
friendly type: tag for people we know, friends, family, large groups
altruist type: general tags so others can use for a resource; involves generosity
popular style: in order to get more views; these have no benefit, are artificial and are also known as spagging (spam +tagging)

While tagging is a personal approach to using bookmarks, it seems like a more uniform way ought to be taught in order to create more uniformity so that searches are more meaningful. My main thought is should there be a system for tagging and might you teach that?

In my own experience for first signing up for delicious a couple of years ago, I thought it would help me find more journalism resources on the web. Since there weren’t too many on there then, I am excited to try to use the site again and see how it has grown and what my own additional contributions might be.

Brisco, S. (2009). A 2.0 TOOLKIT. School Library Journal, 55(8), 61-62. http://search.ebscohost.com

Grosseck, G. (2008, March). The role of Del.icio.us in education: creating significant learning experiences. Paper presented at 5th International Conference on Informatics, Educational Technology and New Media in Education, Sombor, Serbia. Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/2413801/The-Role-of-Delicious-in-Education

Social Bookmarking: Link to classroom 2.0 social network discussions. (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2009, from CR2.0: http://wiki.classroom20.com/social+bookmarking

BP1_2009111_Educational uses of Blogs

By now, I think we all know why we should use blogs in education.

Here are the obvious reasons to use blogs in the classroom or in education:
--it gives students an AUDIENCE for their writing
--it gives students a way to ARTICULATE their thoughts on any given subject
--it provides MOTIVATION for students to use an online tool for writing
--it provides a means for COLLECTIVE INQUIRY so that collaboration and

And here are some great uses for blogs in the classroom:
http://www.slideshare.net/sqoolmaster/educational-uses-of-blogs-and-tags-234136

But I was really looking for the less obvious reasons to blog in education: the reasons why anyone would truly want to read my blog, read my students? blogs or really use the blogs that I find and cite throughout my coursework. So after searching, here is what I found:
First, the benefits some suggestions for getting started:
http://www.opencontent.org/wiki/index.php?title=How_to_use_a_blog_to_facilitate_learning

They:
--promote the use of TECHNOLOGY--my motivation
--promote READING habits--what an excellent way to get kids reading

But perhaps the most interesting thing I found came from A BLOG titled ?Why are we using blogs and not just doing the work on our PC?? This is what I was looking for (ironic--a blog about why blogs are useful) blogsite: http://emmanugent.wordpress.com/2009/06/02/why-are-we-using-blogs-and-not-just-doing-the-work-on-our-pc/

In effect, the personalization of having a blog in education brings all of us closer together. Finding this woman?s blog in the United Kingdom would never have occurred had I not been required to find out about blogs in education. And her comments simply reinforced the ?less obvious? reason I was looking for:
?a blog is owned and personalized; it?s my site, I?m in charge, it?s a space for own learning, thinking, planning, note taking, etc; less formal than a forum, lets my hair down and be myself, can write more as people are not obliged to read it.?

Definitely reasons for me to keep referring back to as I continue this blog.