Social
Bookmarking
Before taking this class, I already had a diigo account
from my masters program two years ago.
When I created my account, most of my bookmarks were for my personal
life rather than for school. Initially, I
thought it was really neat to have your bookmarks available on any computer,
but I stopped using it because most of the sites I go to I either know the web
address or they are easy to find by using Google.
After our last class, I feel that my diigo account could
be very beneficial for myself and my students.
For the last couple of years, I have advertised a few websites to
students that they can view if they have questions about topics covered in
class. I have these websites posted on
my wiki, but very few students used these websites as an additional resource. I am curious if students would be more likely
to view these if they had their own social bookmarking account or if they had
access to my bookmarks.
Another thing I really like about social bookmarking is
being able to highlight parts of text and being able to apply sticky
notes. As a teacher, this would be a
great way of making sure that students focus in on certain parts of the text,
especially if it is a longer article.
I found an article that explains the essential skills
that social bookmarking allows teachers and students to practice (http://langwitches.org/blog/2010/12/22/using-social-bookmarking-in-schools-and-with-students-part-one/). In addition, I liked the quote they used to
support social bookmarking (“Getting information off the internet is like
taking a drink from a fire hydrant”).
This is definitely a benefit of having access to others’ bookmarks. Also, this website (http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/Social+Bookmarks)
lists some ways schools can use social bookmarking, especially in a school’s
Library Media Center.
Web
Browsers
I have not done the assignment on the different web
browsers yet, but I am interested in learning the pros and cons of each kind of
browser. In the past, I know we have had
some issues with Infinite Campus and Compass Learning not working correctly
with certain browsers. Hopefully, the
assignment may shed some light on these types of issues.
Ryan -
ReplyDeleteI also got my master's in Instructional Technology, and I totally agree with your last post about so much being out there and having not yet had the chance to begin creating an online course. When I was in the program, we looked at delicious a little, but didn't use it to it's full extent. I have been having a little bit of difficulty using diigo (might be my computer), but I can totally see the pros of using it in the classroom. There have been more than a few times where I wanted to find something that was appropriate for my students to use as supplemental information or places to find help, and most sites were either too advanced or covered something in a way that I didn't and would probably confuse the kids even more. Imagine all the time that could be saved and used for something else if teachers used social bookmarks to share great resources with one another!
What browsers don't really work that well with IC and Compass? After doing some homebound instruction with compass, it would be interesting to know and let students know what exact programs they might need to make those courses run more smoothly.