Social tagging can be used in the classroom for research and collaboration. Students in groups can easily share information they have found by common tags. Finding new information is also easy, students can view which sites share the same tags as the ones they have already tagged. Students cannot only find websites, but also pictures and other media that correlates with the subject they are working on. Creating games for the student to play is also easy, who can tag the most, or who can find the sites with the most relevant tags are both ways to make finding information fun. As with anything done on the Internet, safety is always an issue. Do not forget to talk to your students about what they may find on the Internet, and how they should react to it. Remember, anyone can tag anything on the Internet. Social tagging can also help to bring a new perspective so that students can gain the most insight on a topic or artwork as possible.
The article Seven Things You Should Know About Social Bookmarking states, “ Activities like social bookmarking give users the opportunity to express differing perspectives on information and resources through informal organizational structures. This process allows like-minded individuals to find one another and created new communities of users that continue to influence the ongoing evolution of folksonomies and common tags for resources” (p. 2). Sites like Steve.Museum make it easy to view what others think about an artwork or topic. It would be easy to have your students tag artwork online then discuss the different tags in groups. Students can gain another perspective, and decide what is an appropriate tag, and what is not together. To close I would like to share with you the differences between del.icio.us and Diigo, and the use of social bookmarking for the teacher.
Will Richardson (2009) introduces and discuss the difference between the two social bookmarking sites. Del.icio.us has a simpler design and is very easy to use, while Diigo offers some more advanced options for the teacher. Diigo offers a free educators account, which allows you to create and track accounts for your students. This feature also keeps the created accounts in their own network, not allowing input from outside users. Diigo also allows the user to highlight text on a site and to post a sticky note on that site so the teacher can bring information to students’ attention. Finally, do not forget to use social bookmarking sites for your own development. Professional development can become easier when you can see what others are doing and what they think. For example it is easy to go to Diigo and type in lesson plans and see what comes up. One can find information on any topic they want just by searching and sorting. Social tagging can bring fresh perspective and collaboration to the classroom for both students and the teacher.
References:
EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (2008) Seven things you should know about social
bookmarking. Retrieved March 22, 2009, from:
http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7001.pdf
Richardson, Will (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for
classrooms. Thousand Oaks California: Corwin Press.
EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (2008) Seven things you should know about social
bookmarking. Retrieved March 22, 2009, from:
http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7001.pdf
Richardson, Will (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for
classrooms. Thousand Oaks California: Corwin Press.
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