I believe that social bookmarking holds real value to teachers and students both. Having links to so many sites organized by tags makes such better use of our time than the old way of "favorites" and bookmarking to a computer. I especially like that this site is accessible from any computer, not just the one I have at home or my laptop which I don't always have with me.
Sharing and using this information is where I place the highest prioritiy. The time it is going to save me is invaluable. Now I don't have to do a search over the whole internet. I can pick and choose the sites and have them ready to go to on just one website. I see this being valuable to students as well. Not only will they be able to save time doing research, but they can do it at home or in the town library as well as at school. No more excuses that "I have it on my computer at home and so I can't work on it here!" or vice versa. These same students can share what they have found with their teachers so that the next group of students will have that same wealth of knowledge and links to go to without the hassle of searching the internet.
I can see the value of social bookmarking with administrators sharing their links with their faculty. This would be great when it comes to directing them to sites that have to do with teacher evaluations and professional training days. The administration could have these bookmarks set up so that, on the day of training, each teacher would know exactly where to go.
Social bookmarking would also be great to serve as links for parents to do to help their students with their homework. Having links to sites that help explain the new math or a scientific concept would be of value to all parents. I would like to be involved with this! There could also be bookmarks to parenting education and other parenting blogs that might be of use to some parents.
After I read Chapter 1 of Trends and Issues, I at first related to the earlier definitions of technology. I well remember the days when films, filmstrips, TV and overhead projectors were "technologically smart"! And I could see where the 1970's definition of using this type of media "for instructional purposes alongside the teacher, textbook, and blackboard" (pg. 4) would have been the most current.
I found, however, the most current definition to be the one that I thought more applicable. This is probably because I am so much more aware of the need for "ethical practice" in learning and performance, using "appropriate technological processes and resources." (pg. 6) The ethical element was left out of other definitions, but because of such worldwide access to information, there need to be guidelines and boundaries set to prevent the misuse of technology, especially in education and learning.
Not realizing that there was a difference, I too would have defined instructional technology as including "computers, videos, CD-ROMs, overhead and slide projectors, and other types of hardware and software". (pg. 7) I find it surprising to see that what I thought was instructional technology was in reality instructional media. Renaming the field Instructional Design and Technology includes this media, but it also includes the "systematic processes" (pg. 6) as well.
As a teacher, I want to apply the current definition of Instructional Design and Technology by ethically "facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources" in my classroom.
My social bookmark site is http://delicious.com/rose_weaver
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