Web 2.0, Chapter 3

In chapter 3 of Choosing Web 2.0 Tools for Learning and Teaching in a Digital World, the authors discuss the Web 2.0 concept known as social bookmarking. Social bookmarking is the simple concept of classifying and organizing websites as well as applying higher order thinking skills found on blooms taxonomy. Social bookmarking is very similar to favorites that can be found on any web browsing tool such as firefox, internet explorer, or safari. When using social bookmarking users use a website that works in conjunction with their internet browser. The users install a toolbar and tag websites they go to so that they can go back to one location and filter through their tagged sites. For example, a user might use the website diggo.com and as they are browsing sites about the brain they might tag certain websites with various information on the brain to one specific part of the brain. Then they go back to diggo.com and search their tagged sites to filter their content to meet a specific need.

How do social bookmarking and education work together? The authors of Choosing Web 2.0 Tools for Learning and Teaching in a Digital World suggest ten reasons why this Web 2.0 tool needs to be used in the everyday classroom. The common theme bedded within these 10 reasons can be based on the understanding that social bookmarking allows for free, efficient, and reliable collaboration among their peers. Social bookmarking also provides educators and their students a resource to use to share information in a union and free way. This is probably one of the biggest pluses for social bookmarking and education.

This chapter was much better than the previous chapter. That might be because this is something that I have actually used and have seen implemented in a classroom. There are a variety of websites that can be used, it just depends on the teacher's preference. For me diggo.com seems to work the best. The idea of storing websites you visit and being able to classify them by tagging them just fits in with our generation and the way we use social media. We tag pictures on facebook so it only makes sense that we tag websites we like.