Reaction to Chapter 6

Twitter can be a great resource to share information, communicate with family or even be used as a resource for education.  Schools are currently using it to be able to communicate with parents and the community.  Edmodo.com is a free substitute source for teachers as well.  Richardson suggest before using a resource such as Twitter in the classroom “Think about Twitter for yourself first” (89, Richardson).  Use it as a resource to connect with others about interest first and see if you can incorporate it to use in the classroom.

Social bookmarking is a great way to keep track of information specifically list of URL’s.  Not only can you add or “tag” URL’s of websites you want to visit another time you can also add keywords describing the website.  This information then get shared with others as they view the same websites with a social bookmarking website like Delicious.com.  You can either keep bookmarks private or choose to share them with specific groups such as students.  Annotating is also a great way to leave notes or comments about a specific URL you have posted for a group to see.

The most important part about social bookmarking is that it is web based.  Before social bookmarking when you use your browser to social bookmark it would only impact that one computer.  Now by using social bookmarking, you can find pages that were previously visited on any computer as long as it’s connected to the internet. 

Educators can use social bookmarks as a tool to not only share websites but collaborate with students by feeding them information.  Social networking can also be used as a method of communication within education.  As technology and BYOD continue to grow in the classroom, these tools will become essential to digital learning.