Educational Bookmarking (part two of bookmarking)

I know, I know I have tons of stuff on bookmarking...What can I say I laid it on thick with the bookmarking stuff since that is my topic for the book!

Let's say I am a student of biology. I cannot reference website material because only primary, peer-reviewed sources are allowed. But I can collect a set of bookmarks (click on the link to see a small collection of sweet educational vidoes) that act as quick references to help me learn material, view videos, track latest discoveries and stay plugged into the reviews of the latest publications and scientific news.

Likewise a facilitator or teacher could build up relevant bookmarks that can be used easily in class or outside of it as reference pages and teaching resources. I could see it being extremely convenient for lesson preparation and finding those awesome resources out there. Students could network with the teacher to find good material that is reliable and reviewed by the teacher.

The article I found written by Kyle James said:

"For Higher Education marketing I don’t know how much value del.icio.us holds, but for managing anyone, including Higher Education administers, online destinations and resources it can be invaluable. The community aspect of viewing and bookmarking with others can be a noninvasive, quick, and productive way to share resources with others to increase productivity."

The point is also made that the network is only as good as the people's bookmarks in them. So if each person's bookmarks are useful and well thought out I think it can be a powerful educational network of websites. There is a lot out there and if it can be organized and quickly accessed it becomes more useful.

One educational user of del.icio.us said "For the longest time I wasn’t adding users to my “network”, and now, everytime I find someone in higher ed web development with a delicious feed, I add it. Lots of great links, all the time."

I tend to be of the thought that if the tool is useful and helps us let's use it but technology in education should be plug and play because who knows what it will be like in a few years.