Mike Chegwin: del.icio.us activity
From Social Networking for Pratice Learning
del.icio.us activity
An activity using del.icio.us on Course B830
1 Which learning outcomes on this course can be supported/developed by social bookmarking/tagging and why
Selected learning outcomes for B830
(A) Professional practice and process
- 6 make sense of complex managerial/leadership situations, showing independence, originality, an appropriate use of theory and an informed awareness of current management thinking
- 7 apply knowledge, experience and theory to understanding complexity, and evaluate the implications for your own and others’ roles
(B) Cognitive skills
- make sense of new knowledge and information
- think analytically and integratively
- evaluate critically
Learning outcomes within 6 and 7 under “Professional practice and process” can be supported and developed by social bookmarking/tagging to facilitate rapid search of theory appropriate to the student’s managerial situation, and students can use social bookmarking to stay up to date with current management thinking through targeted searches (as well as appropriately selected RSS feeds).
Assessing and evaluating critically the information that becomes available through these activities – in part through the comments of those in the student’s network on each of the articles accessed – will foster the cognitive skills component of the learning outcomes. The width of the network in del.icio.us and the inclusiveness of networking will encourage integrative approaches to the use and evaluation of theory and topical information.
2 Describe an activity by students, using del.icio.us to achieve one or more learning outcomes on the course
Describe the aim of the activity and which learning outcomes it relates to
This activity’s general objective is to familiarise you with social bookmarking, with the specific aims of showing you the advantages of systematically accessing information on the web, in particular theory, of sharing this with others having similar interests and benefiting from the selections of others with interests similar to yours, and of organising your information through tagging to facilitate its understanding and ease of recovery when you need it.
Describe what students do, step by step, to complete the activity
- watch the videos (see [1]) showing you how to get started in del.icio.us and read the information provided at http://del.icio.us/about/ (45 mins)
- register in del.icio.us (10 mins)
- ask your tutor for her/his del.cio.us name and look at their tagged sites at http://del.icio.us/name/, focusing initially on sites tagged Social_Networking, so as to become familiar with the medium (15 mins)
- save some bookmarks that look interesting to you, using your own selection of tags, either those already suggested by the website, or tags you have designed to meet your own objectives (20mins)
- now carry out a search in del.icio.us on a topic of relevance to your EBI and start collecting articles that can contribute to your use of theory and/or as evidence to support your initiatives (open - initially 45mins)
- network within your Tutor Group to find others with similar areas of interest to your own, determine their del.icio.us names and add them to your network (ongoing activity - you need at least 30mins twice a week for this to be useful)
- try sharing bookmarks with those in your network (20 mins)
Indicate which weeks of the study calendar this would take place in and suggest guestimate workload time for each step
This resource is likely to be useful to students throughout the course, having first familiarise themselves with Issues and Approaches. The activity should be timed to be undertaken at about week 6 or 7
Workload times shown above underlined.
Describe any resources that students would need in order to complete the activity
- An internet connection
- Registration on del.icio.us
- Tutor's del.icio.us URL
- Tutor Group del.icio.us URLs
3 Describe the role of the tutor
- Be a resource to students in terms of technical advice and help
- Provide access to tutor’s own del.icio.us resources
- Send links of interest to students
- Check build-up of network and participation of individuals
- Stimulate participation
4 Describe any links with assessment
- Demonstration of intelligent use of the resource to access theory and information of relevance to your EBI
- Demonstrate understanding of tagging
- Provision of correct referencing of URLs in according with Harvard system
- Provision by student of evidence that s/he has networked
5 Comment on any risks that the course team ought to be aware of
- Non-techies being left behind
- Excess focus on technology instead of on learning & reflection
- Computer-use fatigue
- Reluctance by some students to share in public domain
