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Social bookmarking

Social bookmarking systems are web-based services that allow users to bookmark all manner of web based resources, 'tag' those resources with meaningful keywords, and share their bookmarks with others.

Samples

City of Wagga Wagga Library tagclouds

The subject links are verified by the library as quality evaluated sites for learning and information.

Source City of Wagga Wagga Library tagclouds
URL http://www.wagga.nsw.gov.au/www/html/1301-tag-cloud.asp?Thankyou=1
Use Anyone and everyone
Delivery Not directly tied to delivery. Standard web browser.
Customisation Social bookmarking programs are very easy to set up and update without the need for specialised software
Availability Similar software is readily and freely available

Brookline Schools

All BrooklineSchools's items

Source Brookline Schools [United States]
URL http://del.icio.us/BrooklineSchools
Use Anyone and everyone
Delivery Not directly tied to delivery. Standard web browser.
Customisation Social bookmarking programs are very easy to set up and update without the need for specialised software
Availability Similar software is readily and freely available

Swan View State High School Library

All svshs's items

Source Swan View State High School Library [Western Australia]
URL http://del.icio.us/svshs
Use Anyone and everyone
Delivery Not directly tied to delivery. Standard web browser.
Customisation Social bookmarking programs are very easy to set up and update without the need for specialised software
Availability Similar software is readily and freely available

Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation

All Australians_for_Native_Title_and_Reconciliation's items

Source Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation
URL http://del.icio.us/Australians_for_Native_Title_and_Reconciliation
Use Anyone and everyone
Delivery Not directly tied to delivery. Standard web browser.
Customisation Social bookmarking programs are very easy to set up and update without the need for specialised software
Availability Similar software is readily and freely available
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Why include Social bookmarking?

Online research skills are critical skills for developing technologically literate life-long learners. Social bookmarking applications make it easy for individual users to tag their favorite web pages more easily. These bookmarks can then be easily searched, retrieved and shared online. Unlike storing addresses in a "favorites" folder on your computer, tagged pages are stored on the web and are accessible from any computer. A tagging site also allows you to search among all your stored pages by keyword, eliminating the need to scroll through dozens of sites and remember the order in which your links are saved. Tags in social bookmark sites can also be subscribed to using RSS.

Features

  • Easy to share and retrieve web page links
  • Encourage data collection on any computer connected to the internet
  • Save and access personal bookmarks to electronic resources via a web browser
  • Classify/categorise/index bookmarks with user-defined tags
  • Share bookmarks publicly, or with members of a particular group
  • Research - identify other users with similar interests, identify resources tagged similarly to your resources
  • Tags can be subscribed to by other web users using RSS

Some examples of social bookmarking tools are del.icio.us, FURL and StumbleUpon

These sites require the user to create a free account.

  • del.icio.us has a useful feature of suggesting tags as you add a bookmark
  • FURL saves a (private) copy of the page, so you can see the page even if it disappears or changes
  • Stumbleupon users can rate sites and get personalized recommendations according to their interests

Teaching and learning opportunities

Social bookmarking has many educational possibilities:

  • collection and provision of websites released to learners through social bookmarking sites that can evolve over the duration of a course/project/training event.
  • sharing of learner research or projects.
  • collecting Resources, Equipment Manuals, Process resources and recommendations.
  • Listing of books you would like your learners to read.
  • establishment of a social bookmarking account for each training group, tag these resources and make the URL available to the class.
  • establish specific tag (within a group of tags) that is used to direct individual students to specific readings or resources.
  • create a collaborative account could be created, the username and password shared by a class or group of learners who could then tag and share resources.
  • support students to learn the use of RSS. Many of bookmarking services also have RSS feeds, so students who use a news aggregator can see new postings automatically.
  • groups of learners undertaking collaborative projects share their bookmarks with the trainer subscribed to their rss feed to see the direction of their research. (Some social bookmark tools - for example FURL permit the trainer teacher to review and comment on resources that are bookmarked)
  • rate and review bookmarks to help with students decide on usefulness of resources.
  • trainers can create a group tag in order to share educational resources on a blog, wiki or social networking site.
  • share links to current news items that relate to training discussions.
  • examine the popularity of a web site that a learner had listed and examine those who have tagged that resource in order to find new resources. (and perhaps unintended learning opportunities)
  • share one social bookmark account between a number of trainers to create and share a broad set of resources.
  • learners bookmark on a subject before (or during) a training session (as a reading exercise), then review those sites after the 'talk and chalk' part of the lesson.
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Integrating Social bookmarking

Social bookmarking can be used for multiple purposes. Trainers need to ensure that learners are clear about the purpose of using them and the intended use. Social bookmarks can be weaved into quite complex learning activities. To begin using them however ensure your learners are clear about the purpose in their training underpins the use of social bookmarks. Social bookmarks allow for regular updating. They are often best used for sharing resources with learners as well as providing groups of learners to add to and share bookmarks around specific topics while web searching.

Design steps

  1. Plan and design how you will use the collection and sharing of bookmarks in your training program
  2. Select a social bookmarking tool that you and or your learners will establish an account (for a list of sites, see FEATURES above)
  3. Establish your account with some initial bookmarks and tags
  4. Provide an orientation to using social bookmarks with your learners so they are clear how to collect, tag and share the bookmarks you ask them to collect as part of learning activities or assessment tasks you provide.
  5. Negotiate or define with your learners how social bookmarks will be used. This could include:
    • The collection of resources during learning activities
    • As part of a web search
    • To depict resources collected during a collaborative project
    • To rate the quality of information tagged
  6. Provide learners with clear guidance on the type of bookmarks that should be collected but encourage bookmarks that may be relevant – though not specific – to your training program but which promote and encourage incidental learning amongst your learners.
  7. Provide learners with guidelines as to the content of resources to be bookmarked. Bookmarks and tags will likely be publically accessible.
  8. Establish an RSS feed from the social bookmark site so you can easily follow the addition of bookmarks by your learners over the duration of the training program
  9. Embed tags and bookmarks from the site in web content in your learner management system, blog or wiki so they can be accessed from a variety of locations

Assessment

Trainers can use social bookmarking as a tool for learners to submit resources collected in preparing assessment tasks.

Social bookmarking activities themselves can be used as part of the assessment process. Learners will need to know in advance that the bookmarking task forms part of the assessment and the criteria by which it will be judged. Support should be provided to the learner to enable them to effectively use social bookmark tools independently.

Generic skills

Some of the generic skills and attributes developed and assessed by social bookmarking are as follows:

  • effective use of technology
  • planning and organising information
  • lifelong learning
  • collaboration and networking

Technical notes

Managing a social bookmarking account will soon become a basic skill for trainers. Generally the use of social bookmarking programs is not difficult and requires basic web searching skills. Trainers will need to have skills in web searching, researching and classification of information in order to be able to find and sort the initial information to be shared with learners.

Skills

Good instructional and organizational skills will be required to establish and support learners through using social bookmarks for learning activities or assessment. Social bookmarks are likely to require a high level of trainer support particularly through registering, saving bookmarks, tagging, sharing – and for advanced activities – subscribing to bookmark/tag RSS feeds.

Tagging could have significant implications for educators, both as a time-saving strategy and a way to find and share relevant information with learners more easily. If a user finds someone's list compelling, they can easily subscribe to it and then be notified when more bookmarks are added to that list.

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See also

Tools and resources

Social bookmark for this strategy

http://del.icio.us/designelearn/social_bookmarking

Last modified: 15/9/08