Social Bookmarking Makes it Easier…

Below is a list of five websites that will help you to understand what social bookmarking is, how to use it in the classroom, where to find it, and how to get started.

I can tell you from my own experiences, my old way of bookmarking is no longer. I’m a convert to social bookmarking and I’m happier for it.

Sites to See: Social Bookmarking
This write-up on the Education World website contains a brief (but informative) explanation of what social bookmarking is all about. It also explains how teachers can use it in the classroom. One example given is that you can organize the sites you draw information from into categories, making them easy to find later when preparing a lesson. Bookmarking in the traditional way consists of a long list of bookmarked sites that makes it difficult to find a specific site, let alone a group of sites pertaining to the same thing.

The article also includes various links to social bookmarking sites like Delicious.

Social Bookmarking in Education
Rebecca Hedreen, the Distance Education Library Coordinator (aka the DE Librarian) for Southern Connecticut State University's Buley Library, explains what social bookmarking is and gives a few examples of how to use it in an education setting.

Here is one example she gave:
“A professor could save readings for a class this way, too. Since each tag has it's own URL, like my classes above, the URL could be posted in the syllabus.”

Social Bookmarking Stories in Education
This site is unique because teachers discuss social bookmarking and how they are using it in the classroom. They let you know what is working and what isn’t, what projects they have been using social bookmarking for, and links to presentations, blog posts, and social bookmarking sites being used.

Here is an example entry by Derral:
“I was having my students post their bookmarks for their podcasts last year. I moved schools and haven’t gotten it going for this year but here is my classrooms bookmarks from last year. The students were 4th and 5th graders and I gave them a base set of tags and then let a small group monitor and then create their own for the rest of the class.”

Taming the Beast: Social Bookmarking
If you want a clear and concise definition of what social bookmarking is and how to use it, check out this article by Will Richardson.

The part that was informative to me was the explanation of how you can track Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds on social bookmarking sites like Delicious. He also includes how you can use social bookmarking as a collaborative tool in school or throughout an entire district.

Scholar.com - Social Bookmarking for the School Set
Scholar.com is a social bookmarking service that, “supplies software to the educational industry…that this is geared for learning.” This article gives a brief overview of scholar.com and points you in the right direction if you want to learn more. With all the web tools out there, it’s a good idea to do your homework before you start using anything in your classroom.

Those are my references for social bookmarking. If you’ve never used it, I strongly recommend it.