Social Bookmarking for Technology in Math

Social Bookmarking could play a big role in integrating technology into a math class.  After creating a lesson plan using Diigo Bookmarking, I found that bookmarking is a great way for students to find links to assigned websites.  No longer do teachers have to type a long list of websites for students to follow for an assignment using technology.  Now teachers can use a social bookmarking site such as Diigo or Delicious to keep up with bookmarked websites.  The great part is that no matter how many bookmarks are on the teacher's site, students can search on a tag to find the bookmarks they need.  Tags are similar to keywords that the teacher assigns to each bookmark so that links are easier to find. 

Check out My Diigo Social Bookmarking link!!! 

I learned a few things when I created my bookmarking link.  One thing I learned was how incredibly easy it was to create.  I decided to use Diigo because I have tried Delicious once before and I wanted to use something different and plus -this is the real reason- there was an app for my iPad on Diigo.  So I had to try this free app.  I will admit I am becoming an app addict, but only the free ones.  Still, I believe I made a wise choice because I have really enjoyed this app and I could see myself using it quite frequently.  It is so easy just to go to the Diigo app and add a bookmark.  Once you add the URL, you can add tags, and a description.  Another thing I learned was that tags need to be thought about carefully.  The tags have to be either one word or words separated by an underscore or dash.  Also, you must consider how someone, especially students, will search for your bookmarks.  For example, I tagged several bookmarks for polynomial.  However, if a student searches for polynomials -plural- the bookmarks will not be found.  So, I tagged both words, polynomial and polynomials.

I definitely can see myself using Diigo.  For some reason I did not connect with other bookmarking sites as well as I did Diigo -could it be the iPad app?  Free apps have a way of making my good list.  Professionally, I believe that social bookmarking could be a good thing for teachers.  I used Diigo in my Web 2.0 review of polynomials lesson plan.  This made lesson planning a breeze because students are instructed to go to My Diigo and search for polynomials.  There they will find all of the links for their review of polynomial operations.

I hope other math teachers may find some of my bookmarks useful.  The links I used were appropriate for mostly middle school to high school students.  These links could be used for more than just reviewing polynomials.  These are great math websites that are very "student friendly".  One of my favorite bookmarks is for a Khan Academy video.  Khan Academy has thousands of math and science videos.  These videos are usually just a few minutes long.  Students could view these videos to review just about any type of math problem.  This is a resource that teachers and students should take advantage of.