BP4_2009102_EducationalUsesforBookmarking

Uses for Social Bookmarking in Art Education

Illustration above is a screenshot of a bookmarking page.

Definitions [bold letters added by me]:

• "The term 'Web 2.0' refers to the next generation of Internet applications that allow (even encourage) the average Internet user to collaborate and share information online" (Thompson, 2008, p. 711).
• "Social bookmarking or tagging is the process of assigning and sharing among users, freely selected terms to resources. This approach is a form of user-generated metadata and allows users to locate new resources through the collective intelligence of other users" ((Chei Sian, Dion Hoe-Lian, Khasfariyati & Alton, 2009, p. 1).
• "Delicious is a social bookmarking site that allows a user (or a group of users on one account) to add meaningful labels that describe the content of Web sites. These labels are commonly called 'tags,' and the process is called 'tagging'" (Buffington, 2008a, p. 307).

For teachers, social bookmarking sites are a convenient and useful way of organizing online resources for lesson planning, teaching and research. It is especially convenient because the bookmarks to sites are located on line and are accessible to any computer with Internet access.

For students, a classroom bookmarking site can be used by a class of students to compile sites which relate to what students are studying, thus documenting the learning process. Art teachers can use social bookmarking such as del.ico.us for teaching students art vocabulary, having students work out appropriate tagging relating to art terms such as the elements and principles of art (Buffington, 2008b). "A teacher could show an image to the class and the students could discuss possible terms to use to 'tag' the image" (p. 38).

Thompson (2008) illustrates how one high school science department has made the social bookmarking site, del.ico.us. Teachers in the department have a commons site in which they all collect and "tag" sites related to curricula, collaboratively giving all science teachers access to a very applicable resource. Art departments can create similar sites for district teachers to use and contribute to, correlating links to district art curricula.

Forbes (2004) gives some great examples demonstrating the usefulness across the k-8 curriculum particularly in supporting reading instruction. One great point that she makes is that "[b]ecause all links are previewed before being made available to students, safety on the internet is improved" (p. 149). This is important with internet safety being a high priority with parents, administrators and teachers.

Definition:

• Walker (2007) describes teaching in artmaking with big ideas as "the use of big ideas of human concern such as identity, relationships, humans and nature, power, change, conflict, and so forth as a central focus for artmaking" (p. 190).

Another use suggested by Buffington (2008) is to use social bookmarking as a way of structuring searches related the "big idea" that students are working on. She gives and excellent example in the article, Creating and Consuming WEb 2.0 in Art Education.

To sum up, there are numerous ways that social bookmarking can be used in art education. These are just a few.

References

Buffington, M. (2008). Creating and consuming Web 2.0 in art education. Computers in the Schools, 25(3/4), 303-313.

Buffington, M. (2008). What is Web 2.0 and how can It further art education?. Art Education, 61(3), 36-41.

Chei Sian, L., Dion Hoe-Lian, G., Khasfariyati, R., & Alton Y. K., C. (2009). Tagging, sharing and the influence of personal experience. JODI: Journal of Digital Information, 10(1), 6.

Forbes, L. (2004). Using Web-based bookmarks in k-8 settings: Linking the Internet to instruction. Reading Teacher, 58(2), 148-153.

Thompson, J. (2008). Don't be afraid to explore Web 2.0. Phi Delta Kappan, 89(10), 711-778.

Walker, S. (2006). How shall we teach? Rethinking artmaking instruction. Teaching Artist Journal, 4(3), 190-197.