Using del.icio.us As a Class or Department Resource
Want to create a resource list for students? Want to create a department list of online resources? What about having students create an annotated bibliography?
These all sounds like great uses for del.icio.us - a web innovation in social bookmarking.
Not sure how to use del.icio.us? Check out this tutorial on how to create a simple class resource list.
What is del.icio.us and Social Bookmarking?
Sample del.icio.us list designed for a class research project on West African Kingdoms
In short, del.icio.us is your "bookmark" list on the internet.
Once you sign up for a del.icio.us account, you can bookmark sites on the internet. These get stored in a page on the del.icio.us website. You can then check your list of bookmarks on any computer - instead of just the computer you saved the bookmark on.
You could also share the list - with other members of your department or with your students. Each entry can be given a description, and you can also "tag" the links. Viewers can then use the tags to browse your bookmark list based on categories that you've defined.
How Is del.icio.us Useful for Me as a Teacher?
There are a few ways you could utilize this tool.
Create a Project Resource List. Let's say your students are doing some online research. Rather than turning them loose on the internet, you hand pick five websites that they should use.
You could continue to use the same del.icio.us account for multiple assignments by giving unique tags to all website associated for an assignment. You could also make it a general resource for your students - all of the websites you've found useful on the internet - instead of specific sites for a specific assignment.
Create a Department Resource List. Similar to the class list, but this includes an element of departmental collaboration. You've got a department syllabus, textbook, and exam - why not bookmark list?
Designate one person to be the administrator, or create an account that everyone has the password too. Ask each teacher in the department to contribute a set number of links in their field - perhaps five - to get started. This would create a pretty comprehensive resource for students.
Create an Annotated Bibliography. When your students are working on a research paper, have them create an annotated bibliography on del.icio.us. The format will be slightly different from the typical MLA bibliography, but it'll be plenty effective.
The student can bookmark each site that he or she plans on using as a source and include a description. If the source is an actual book, then bookmark the library's card catalog entry for the book. Not only can the students hand this list in, but they can access them at home and at school with ease.
Our students use social networking sites all the time at home - so why don't we utilize certain aspects of them, like social bookmarking, in the classroom?
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