BP3_2009102-Social bookmarking

As students begin to use the research tools in our new computer lab, they will be able to keep track of their bookmarks with http://delicious.com, just as I am beginning to do for my action research. With the use of social bookmarking, we can share links with each other, between teacher and students, as well as between colleagues and fellow FSO students, and our instructors. The social nature of learning that Lev Vygotsky discussed so long ago has come full circle in these technological breakthroughs.

As teachers learn to step back from the expert role, we let the students become more involved in discovering their own sources of knowledge. They share with each other and their instructors. Teachers can facilitate students’ learning to find their own resources, and promote the life-long learning they will find necessary to keep up with the pace of change in the 21st century world.

Other sites with the ability to bookmark abound. Students may be ready to assume the responsibility for developing their own courses of study outside of school, sooner than we are ready to let them be free to do so during the course of the school day, within our buildings. However, if we are wise and teach them responsible media consumption standards and ethics, they will grow and develop in healthy ways through the freedom to learn in new ways with these powerful social interaction tools.