Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking is something that I wasn't really familiar with before this class. It was really interesting to learn about it. I think of myself as pretty technologically savvy, I use Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and now Blogger frequently enough...but Social Bookmarking has escaped me.

Even so, I think Social Bookmarking could have a place in classrooms. I know as a student in school, I constantly was doing long term assignments where the teacher would say "you can use this website" or "this website is a good reference.." and of course, by the time I got home after the rest of classes, 2 or 3 club meetings, and obligatory dinner with the family...I could NOT remember the website/could not read my own handwriting.

One way this would work is in this situation: projects. If students have a long-term project such as a research paper or presentation, I could put these links on the page and simply direct the students there. In the same vein, I could have resources such as Purdue OWL and other MLA websites and resources. That way, I won't have to repeat myself over and over again.

Another way is to have students do independent research on a topic, and have them bookmark their research. I know in my English 11 class we did a section on colleges. This would be the perfect place to arrange bookmarks of colleges that specialize in popular majors such as: business, premed, English, education, and so forth.

Finally, another way to use Social Bookmarking is to supply students with extra reading. Perhaps the links could lead them to popular online magazines, newspaper websites, or creative sites.

I believe Social Bookmarking is a great way to either enhance a class or unit, or even as an "extra" for students trying to get ahead.

For myself, I will use social bookmarking all the time now. It will come in handy when I'm researching for English papers so I do not have to bog down my own "favorites" section. I also do a lot of online shopping, so this will help when it comes time to buy Christmas presents, I can make a category about that so I can buy presents for other people, and know what to tell them when they ask what I want.