Reflection on Social Bookmarking and Networking

While last week’s items, Google Sites and Google Docs, were both very familiar to me and things I had already been using in education, this week’s topics were voyages into the unknown.  I’ve heard a lot about social networking and social bookmarking, but I have never really taken the time to explore them and consider how they could be useful to me in my job or in my life.

            My experience with Diigo was an interesting one.  I had been exposed to social bookmarking previously as a way to get your bookmarks to travel with you, rather than being tied to your machine.  I never really embraced this as it is very easy to add to favorites, and I don’t work on that many machines.  In using Diigo, I found there is way more to it. 

I have to admit that at first I was turned off by the “so much more” factor.  I sometimes get frustrated with software that attempts to do everything and thus complicates what might have been a useful resource.  When I first got into Diigo, I was frustrated as I was challenged to learn all the things it could do.  This seemed to get in the way of the original idea of storing bookmarks.  However, after spending some time with it, I found the “social” features of it actually will make it far more useful.  While I never found a need to save my bookmarks, I really am intrigued with the possibilities that it offers for creating an online community to share information. 

One of my jobs is to lead our district staff forward both in the area of educational technology and in the education of students at the middle school level.  I was able to use Diigo to create groups for each of those areas.  Through Diigo, I’ll be able to share sites and articles on these topics, while my staff will be able to do the same.  One of the biggest challenges is there is only so much time where we can all meet and discuss these important topics.  This will allow staff to participate in this discussion when it is convenient for them. 

I do still have concerns that the amount of information can be so overwhelming.  I already feel like I have so little time to consume the information, let alone act upon it.  There are so many different things that great schools and teacher do, that it can be overwhelming.  It is so important, especially in this information overload era, to remember the important saying: No one man (or woman, school, etc) can do everything but don’t let that keep you from doing something. 

The second part of this week’s lesson was using Twitter and numerous articles on social networking.  Reading all the information on social networks, the wide variety available, the great education uses, and the concerns about student privacy and safety are very unsettling for me.  I see social networking as having such great value in education.  However it poses so many questions I feel I need to solve:  What is the best site out there, how will students privacy and security be protected, do we need permission for students to use it, what do we do with parents who won’t give that permission, what policy changes need to be made, how do we train staff how to use it, how do we provide the technology in school and at home for students to use this, where will those funds come from?  Those questions alone, not to mention the numerous other duties that consume our time, are the key reasons many schools make like Nancy Reagan and “Just say no.” 

I’m very grateful for this course as it is pushing me in some directions I’ve always wanted to go, but haven’t had the impetus to get going.  I do feel unsettled by all this, but I do also see a course of action.  These problems need to be solved one by one.   The challenge now will be to figure out what step to take fi