Social Bookmarking

Students in grades K-12 working on group research projects have a new technologically savvy approach. Social bookmarking is a 21^st century approach to collaborative work in the classroom. Sites such as Diigo allow students to be far more efficient than traditional bookmarking.

There was a time when we simply bookmarked favorite sites and wrote or typed notes then maybe copy/pasted the website along with the typed notes to share with group members in order to create a report. Today students can save all of their information on a social bookmarking site. On the site students can not only save the URL, but they highlight and make annotations throughout the text. This provides students the ability to show their thinking to other group members as they read through the text. This also allows students a great way to keep their research organized and accessible by all group members and the teacher.

As a teacher, I like the fact that I have the ability to check in on how a project is progressing and with the annotations I can be sure the students understand the assignment and are doing well. Social bookmarking also allows students to access their groups work or classroom resources from any computer. This is great if students work on projects at home and at school. Traditional bookmarking only allowed students to bookmark on the computer that they were using at the time and would not have been useful if they switched to a different computer.

In my first grade class I believe Diigo will be helpful in organizing classroom resources to share with students, colleagues and parents. I may choose to assign an end of the year mini-research project. If so, I will create a teacher account and then student accounts which can be kept private.  As a class, we could find the resources we would like to use and organize them on Diigo. The students could share the information with parents at home and parents could assist their children in the completion of the project with all the resources neatly organized for them through social bookmarking.

Resources

7 Things You should Know About Social Bookmarking

Classroom Collaboration Using Social Bookmarking Service Diigo

Using Diigo in the Classroom

Personal Learning Networks

I have been reading about the use of Twitter in the classroom and have learned about “ PLNs”. According to Kate Messner, “A PLN or Personal Learning Network, is a group of like-minded professionals with whom you can exchange ideas, advice, and resources.” (Pleased To Tweet You)  In my words, a PLN is simply a group of people sharing knowledge online. PLNs are not just for professionals to communicate, they are also for our students.  K-12 classrooms can participate in  PLNs in order to gain knowledge from professionals and their peers.

This can take place in many areas of the web such as Twitter, blogs, Wikis, Facebook, and others that I am still learning about. (Why (And How) You Should Create A Personal Learning Network) What a great way for our 21^st century learners to engage in their learning. Our middle and high school students are most likely using forms of social media and are comfortable with it. They would be excited to use it in the classroom and to connect with experts to gain knowledge for research projects.

 I imagine a group of students in a classroom utilizing a PLN to jigsaw a research project. This could take place at many grade levels and even between classrooms in different buildings, districts, and states. It would mirror an online classroom group assignment. The students would be assigned a group (within their classroom or with others via the web), the group is assigned a topic and the tasks of gathering research divided among the students. Students gather the information and report back to the PLN. From there the students can complete their individual projects or through the use of Google Docs create one report. This is just one of many ways a PLN can be used in a K-12 classroom.

Resources

Messner, Kate, Pleased To Tweet You, School Library Journal, December 2009

How to Create a Robust and Meaningful Personal Learning Network
PLN: Your Personal Learning Network Made Easy
Why And (How) You Should Create A Personal Learning Network