I’m always interested in learning what others say about what the ‘best’ technology tools are for teaching and learning. It depends on who you ask and what their reference point is but it seems that these days, unlike 2001 where the tool of choice was a laptop (still a great tool but we’ve really moved beyond that), people are really taking notice of del.icio.us. If you don’t know what del.icio.us is other then it’s a kind of apple, then you might want to pay attention because it and other social applications like it are really taking a hold of the web and have the potential to transform the way we teach.

Del.icio.us allows you to save and tag web sites with words that are meaningful to you (think of tagging as a way a librarian might catalog material). The best part about social bookmarking sites is that you are in control of how site URL’s are organized and labeled (i.e. tagged). But it gets better: the real power comes with your ability to see and share your del.icio.us tags with others. In other words if I were to save a web site URL using del.icio.us I would see that “X” number of other people also saved the same URL…and I would have access to see what other sites they have saved! This is the Social piece of bookmarking that makes content more visible and more meaningful.

The Common Craft Show does a great job of explaining social bookmarking phenomena and some of its lingo.

But really, don’t take my word for it try it our yourself.

JENNY