Mastercard should pick this one up...it's del.icio.us!

Account set up - Free and Easy
Toolbar set up - Free and Easy
Bookmark transferring - Free and Easy
Tagging and Editing tags - Free and Easy
Adding friends to my network - Free and Easy
Subscribing to tags - Free and Easy
Sending my favourite bookmarks to my network friends - Free and Easy
Opportunities for collaboration - Priceless!

From the very beginning, using del.icio.us, the social bookmarking site, as a tool to organize information I find relevant, interesting or necessary has been free and easy. When I first starting using del.icio.us I wondered what was so social about it. After some exploring I discovered the network feature, the subscribing feature and the inbox feature. Each of these features allows the user to share and acquire bookmarks from other users in different ways. I think it is these features that provide potential for social bookmarking to benefit education. The more I explore the site, the more potential I see using it as a collaborative tool in the school setting. Here are some of the ideas I have thought of for my unique situation as a teacher-librarian in an elementary school...

1. Setting up an account for the library that all students would have access to. The username and password would be easy to remember and sites would support the learning we are doing in the school library and in the classroom. Teachers could set up their own sites, and send me sites they would like their students to be able to access. I would tag them with their classroom teachers name (i.e. Mrs.Smith's_Class or Grade3_Science) so teachers could direct their students on where to find the sites necessary for their learning.

2. Setting up an account for a specific classroom that would share sites that were relevant to each topic they were exploring in the classroom. I would work collaboratively with the teacher and students to become proficient in using the site teaching them how to tag and keep their delicious site organized.

3. Setting up an account for teacher only use that would include bookmarks that support the professional growth of teachers and other professionals in the school. This would require some set up on my part, an inservice or staff meeting presentation to get teachers hooked, follow up support training where other features of del.icio.us could be shared (i.e. networking, sending bookmarks to each other) and frequent organization of tags. I think it would be easiest for one person to 'regulate' the tags and all the users mark the new bookmarks they add to the site with previously developed tags. If a tag needs to be added, the 'regulator' would add it or suggest another preexisting tag that would suit the site being added. I think this is necessary for the tags to not get in the way of organizing the sites saved.

4. An alternative to setting up a site that all teachers have access to would be to hold an inservice for teachers to learn to set up their own del.icio.us sites and teach them how to add each other as network friends and how to share sites through subscription or through their inbox. I personally think this would be a better alternative than #3 because it eliminates the need for a 'regulator' as well it holds more potential for teachers to use the site as it is their own. A collaborative site may fizzle out as teachers feel it is not their own to use and cannot add their personal bookmarks to it. If students have regular access to the internet at school and at home, I think this would be a better alternative to idea #2 for students as well because it will also keep students accountable to the sites they are adding to their own del.icio.us site and encourage them to use it on a more personal level as well as an educational level. It would also enable privacy of personal bookmarks as teachers or students could send their bookmarks through the inbox or get their students to subscribe to a particular tag (i.e. grade7_art) so anything the teacher gives that tag can be sent to the student.

5. As it is free and so easy, I could also see myself setting up a site for a specific project or even a school goal. For example, if working on a research project on sea turtles with a grade 4 class for science, I could set up a del.icio.us site just for this project to acquire and make available sites for the students and teachers working on this project with me. It could be a go to place! Or I could set up a account that would support our school literacy goal for teachers, students, parents and administrators to use. Any interested groups would be granted access to find sites that would support our school goal in a variety of ways (i.e. home activities for parents, lessons for teachers, research for administrators, teachers or parents, literacy game sites for kids). This would require sessions for any user groups to learn how to access the site and use it to its potential.

I really feel that del.icio.us can be used in any collaborative or personal situation to organize information on the web.

To be honest, I did not explore any other social bookmarking sites (i.e. diigo) because del.icio.us was so easy and efficient that I spent my time exploring it and beginning to use it for myself and as a collaborative tool instead of setting up another account. I do not doubt that other sites would be comparable, but I think when you find a good thing that is working, stick with it!

I have however been exploring shelfari as a social bookmarking tool where I can add the books I have read and the books I want to read. I added one to my blog when I initially set it up but did not see this as more than a place to showcase the books I liked or want to read. This past week I have explored this site more and see that I can add friends to my network and view their shelves. I can even join a bookclub! The last two years have not left me time to participate in a traditional bookclub but I am excited that I can join a club for a time to discuss a book I have already read to just discuss that book! That is thrilling! When you finish a great book and just have to share it with someone and no one you know has read it...this is a perfect outlet for the gushing! I look forward to getting involved in this feature.

When using social bookmarking tools in the educational setting, I think it is important to remember that "the more organized your bookmarks are, the more valuable they will be to you" (Warlick, p.112). This pertains to us personally but we also need to remember this when working with our colleagues and students. We need to remember that each social bookmarking site needs to be organized in a way that suits the user(s). My way of using del.icio.us may not work for others. For sure, different people will place different tags on the same site so it truly needs to be a collaboratively planned, implemented and used tool.

As Richardson (2009) outlines, social bookmarking tools can change the way we work by using networks to tap into collaborative relationships. To take advantage of this "priceless" tool we need to view it as one that will not only organize information for us, but one that will allow us to work smarter not harder through collaborating with our colleagues and students.

References:

Warlick, D.F. (2005). Raw materials for the mind: A teachers guide to digital literacy. Raleigh, NC: The Landmark Project.

Richardson, W. (2009) Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.