bp9_2009112_SocialBookmarkinginEducation

The Importance of Social Bookmarking in Education

Social bookmarking is to the internet what libraries were to local communities fifty years ago or more. According to Grosseck (2008), they are essentially sources for accessing and contributing to a collective intelligence. What started in 1994 as the vision of few teachers at American University, to have a way to organize the information available on the Internet, is now a reality in the form of Social Bookmarking. (Grosseck, 2008)

Social bookmarking services like Del.icio.us, which is currently the most popular social bookmarking tool (Grosseck, 2008), provide a way to manage and locate information within the vast information repository, the Internet. Through a series of tags and collections, users can identify and find information based on their needs. There are two educational opportunities that this presents. First, it is an educational process to think through the categories and tags that are appropriate for any piece of content on the web. Appropriate use of social bookmarking requires this thinking process.

Yet another educational opportunity, comes with the ability of bookmarks to be shared between users, “So, you could have students sign up for accounts, save and tag Web sites on certain topics, and then share them among themselves.” (Jackson, 2009). This sharing of knowledge opens up collaboration and information sharing that can encourage ongoing study. Furthermore, social bookmarking, and the sharing of information that users deem important also can create and expresse a type of culture, or language among learners. This sharing is the beginnings of a learning community, which can help to build educational resilience among certain challenged learners (Burley, 2009).

Indeed, I believe social bookmarking can play an important role in modern education.

References:

Burley, H., Barnard-Brak, L., Marbley, A.,  Deason, C. (2009). Gifted African American Millenials: A Profile of Promise.

Grosseck, G. 2008. The Role of Del.icio.us in Education: Creating Significant Learning Experiences. University of the West Timisoara. Retrieved November 8, 2009 from http://www.scribd.com/doc/2413801/The-Role-of-Delicious-in-Education.

Jackson, L. June 5, 2009. Sites to See: Social Bookmarking. Education World. Retrieved  November 8, 2009 from http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/sites/sites080.shtml


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