#17 Wiki on curriculum uses of web 2.0 applications

In perusing the California Curriculum Connections Wiki, I looked at suggested applications of social bookmarking tools. I followed a link to The Clever Sheep and found some great suggestions. I can really see applications for del.icio.us and ease of creating weblinks for coursework--whether it's me or a teacher doing it. This suggestion:

7] Teachers can invent unique tags for each of their classes using the subject or course code as a tag. Students could then access any site deemed worthy... anyplace, anytime! Tags for a grade 11 science course might be found in a place like this: http://del.icio.us/mrteacher/sci3u. Better yet, if a teacher shares a really unique tagging code like 'luciersci3u' then students could add bookmarks to their own del.icio.us accounts, and since you can search bookmarks by any and all users at once in the root of del.icio.us, students would be able to conveniently access the bookmarks made by any and all members of the class.

looks particularly useful to me. I think it's something I can recommend to colleagues and they can implement as they have time. I can begin to create links for class projects that happen annually and not have to use district server space to store the data!

I posted a link to my student book discussion blog Rockin' Reads in the Sandbox. Blogging was a colleague's professional goal this year and we've been working on encouraging students to use the blog. I hope I can get these kids to continue to use it in the coming years.

I was a little disappointed that people who are taking the course couldn't add to the Wiki itself--that seems like it would be the best way to use the wiki and would save people from having to visit all of the different blogs linked on the main SLL2.o page, but I can also understand wanting some editorial control of the wiki.

Editorial Note: On March 31, I got a comment from another participant correcting my misconception that I couldn't contribute to the California Curriculum Connections Wiki. Today I posted a link to our book discussion blog on the Blogs and Avatars page.

#13 del.icio.us and social bookmarking

I don't recall when I signed up for del.icio.us but I'm so glad that I did! Like many people, my bookmarks easily become unwieldy because it seems there's always some new site I want to be able to find my way back to again. I attended a training a few years ago where I learned that I could make folders for my bookmarks and about the bookmarks toolbars and that knowledge changed my browsing life at that time. I didn't think it could get much better until I began using del.icio.us! One thing I learned from reading today was that I probably should be putting notes in with my links because I appreciated using others notes on sites they've bookmarked.

One site that I've found is really useful for all things web2.0 is Educause: they do brief one or two page "Seven things you should know about (fill in the blank)" which is a great way to learn about new tools--their brief on social bookmarking was done in 2005.

One of the things I'm happiest about with del.icio.us is that I was actually able to install the Firefox extension at work--so many things are blocked here including much local control over the desktop, but I was able to install without a network admin password, which is nice because it's nearly impossible to get someone to agree to do that kind of override.

Recently, my husband and I have been talking about moving closer to where we work. Along with that has come searching for homes and for floorplans on the off-chance that we decide that we can afford to build. While visiting my mom over the holiday I was able to log in to my del.icio.us bookmarks and show her our favorite with no problems locating the site or the plan.