Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Focus question: How
can teachers benefit from using information management technologies such as
bookmarking, social bookmarking, information alerts, and e-newsletters?
Information management means “a business term generally used
to describe how organizations and systems keep track of data for making
decisions and setting policies” (Maloy,
R. W., Verock-O, R. E., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, 2011). Teachers and
students need to consider information management when using learning resources
provided by websites. They need a way to store, sort, select, and summarize
information they find.
A teacher is always
finding educational information online and they need to store it somewhere.
Bookmarking is a great tool for this kind of task. It offers ways to find
information and organize it. Web browsers contain bookmarking to save websites
that you visit frequently. I have Google Chrome and use the bookmark option
almost every day. I’m able to go back and find the websites I have bookmarked. Teachers
can use LiveBinders or URList to create lists of URLs and share them with
students.
Social
bookmarking is another great tool, which allows more than just bookmarking on
one computer. It enables users to bookmark online and be able to access it all
times. Social bookmarking is a public list instead of a private list. An
example of a social bookmark is Delicious. Teachers will find that social
bookmarking will be better than using bookmarks from one computer. It enables them
to access whichever website they saved from anywhere at any time.
Teachers can use
information alert to receive announcements about new information on a topic. An
information alert is an electronic notice that announces new information that
becomes available online. Google Alerts is offered to users that have Google
accounts for free. E-newsletters is similar to information alerts. It appears
free in the user’s email on a regular basis once they signed up to receive
them.
Tech Tool link: Social
Bookmarking Resources and Apps
The article discusses about social bookmarking for teachers,
which are useful information management strategies. It offers websites such as
Delicious, netTrekker Search, Diigo, and Goodreads. I have been introduced to
Delicious and I find it useful in my everyday life. Delicious organizes the
bookmarks in one place and allows users to add tags. The tags are supposed to
remind the user where something is on the website. Diigo is another useful
social bookmarking website. It allows users to highlight portions of pages, add
sticky notes, use tags, share resources, and bookmark sites.
Photo credit to kidtechguru on Flicker.
Summary &
Connection:
This chapter explores about how teachers can benefit from
using information management technologies. These are bookmarking, social
bookmarking, information alerts, and e-newsletters that teachers can use. This
will help teachers organize information that they will need to prepare lessons.
Teachers will be able to bookmark websites from any computer using social
bookmarking.
Webquests are online inquiries designed and guided by
teachers for students. It enables students to follow an “electronic map or take
an online tour” (Maloy, R. W.,
Verock-O, R. E., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, 2011). Webquests are designed for
students to access academic information digitally and assess what they find. These
online inquiries requires five steps: stage setting, task, process, evaluation,
and conclusion. Students will be expected to create while on the quests.
Students don’t have to leave their class or school for field trips because they
can use virtual field trip. Virtual field trips take students to places all over
the world. Some students go on virtual schools while others meet with their professors.
Teachers can use videoconferencing for students that are unable to visit.
The chapter
further discusses six different types of educational websites that support
inquiry and interactivity. Educational websites are designed with K-12 learning
goals. For digital content a teacher finds on the Web, they can develop a
system of categories. Educational websites are divided into six categories:
lesson plan sites, student-to-expert communication sites, real-time and
recorded data sites, archival and primary source sites, skills/practice sites,
and student work publishing sites.
Resources:
Maloy, R. W.,
Verock-O, R. E., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, B.P.
(2011). Transforming learning with new
technologies. (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
Great summary and like the inclusion of ways you use the bookmarking tools. The great thing about the social bookmarking tools is that you can search what other people have already found as valuable (a sort of crowd sourcing) that saves time and energy. It also allows for conversation around mutually interesting topics, so teachers can discuss common issues or maybe even collaborate on a lesson across the oceans! :)
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