As Will Richardson points out social bookmarking establishes a community of researchers (90). In Diigo, one can open up that research community to the entire world wide web (WWW) (through Google). Whereas Nettrekker limits sharing amongst Nettrekker Adminsitrators (the person who manages the account for the school; tis moi at Parkview Elemenatary) and SD83 teachers (and possibly just teachers at schools with Nettrekker).
In my "newbie" test run of Diigo this week, I have both enjoyed the public sharing, but also got lost amidst the plethora of links and recalled the extra time it takes to sift through the extensive hits, especially when using Google. With Nettrekker, I've come to appreciate the quickness I can find quality educational sites. The "Refine" search feature in particular can limit to grade level and even by BC provincial learning out comes! I just tried my first search for "community" (a primary theme) and not only did it list the provincial learning outcome language, but also web links tied specifically to EACH one of those outcomes - does that WOW anyone besides me?
"Community" Example:
Prescribed Learning Outcome D2 It is expected that students will: identify types of work done by people in their community
Click topics below to access aligned content.
Neighborhood Associations gave two hits:
1. http://kids.miamidade.gov/ (American animated city)
2. http://bensguide.gpo.gov/k-2/neighborhood/index.html (American animated city)
The two links above are American which as a Canadian educator is a continual pitfall of the subscription databases I've worked with thus far (including World Book and EBSCO), but I have been impressed with the Canadian content coming from Nettrekker for some searches. For example, through my "community" search, I found a Sarcee Reserve, Native community link (a reserve close to Calgary, Alta. - very cool!). I emailed Aaron my "Community" Nettrekker folder, so we'll see if he gets it and if it works to share it with us.
Overall, I know I need to learn how to refine my searches more to reveal wanted themes & Canadian content for Diigo, Nettrekker, and web crawlers such as Google.
So while it was much faster and produced strong results for my Nettrekker searches for current primary themes such as owls, community, and money (definitions, how to use money, currency), on the other hand, Diigo, turned up a lovely site for virtual owl pellet dissection, and the more I use this site, the more I see its "free" potential. For example, 158 other people bookmarked this site. Miz Mercer was the first to bookmark it; this person has been a member since 2007, and follows 145 people, 1 public groups, 2077 public bookmarks and has 149 followers. While not a lot of profile info for this person, "she" obviously educates 4th, 5th and 6th grade students from the States due to her recent bookmarks, tags, and sidebar "Top Tags." Miz Mercer has a pile of more experience then me with Diigo! I found another public librarian and really liked her owl sites and bookmarked many of hers, and wanted to RSS subscribe to her name, but now I can't find her! The searches produce dynamic results it appears. Note to self - record names to subscribe to or take the leap and subscribe right away as I can always unsubscribe later!
Overall, I didn't have as much success with the themes above (or at least capped my research time) in Diigo/Google. Nevertheless, despite using the advanced search features, I know I need to improve my research skills in both of these items. For example, I need to take Jeff Utech's Ninja Google training course to be a more effective "Googler!" Albeit I have a hunch that as I Diigo network with, specifically, other educators (especially Canadian teachers and beloved teacher-librarians), then Diigo sharing will prove very powerful as 100'es if not 1000's+ contributing voices/minds will be much greater than Nettrekker contributors. I will have to ask Nettrekker what their base number of "nettrekker researchers" are and approximately how many volunteer contributors &/or sites they have. The latter has paid teachers and teacher-librarians trolling the net for educational sites; Netrrekker patrons can submit requests, which in turn are tested and vetted by the Nettrekker staff. I have yet to submit and web sites to see how much "they" would involve me in that process. Hmm, I wonder how much Nettrekker staff use Diigo or Delicious to find web sites!
Well this short'ish post actually took me a day to complete as I kept testing themes in both Nettrekker and Diigo. The latter was hacked into this week and pirated for a couple of days (!), which caused a learning curve to go to diigo.net instead. I wonder if info was compromised during that time. Diigo claims not.
Well, I've got Edmodo up and running for my "Learning Commons Assistants" (new handle for my library student helpers) and wondering if I should start a Diigo, &/or use the nettrekker account with them. Edmodo also has a "Library" in it; I wonder if it may serve as a gathering and storage area. Hmmm, after using Diigo this week, I just may go that route with them combined with nettrekker - I think I better have a chat with the principal.
Lastly, I need to search BCTLA t-ls within Diigo and start subscribing to their RSS feeds. Kay Treadgold was a well-known t-l from Kelowna, but she's retired. Please recommend some BC t-ls to follow - Aaron Mueller and Gordon Powell already on my list, as well as my LIBE 477 peers!
Great fun. Great learning. Podcasting here I come. S
Fantastic post. You are really stretching into some new territory in regards to your awareness of larger communities and networks and their immense power to help catalog and organize this information rich world we are building together.
ReplyDeleteI am impressed that you are pushing past some of your hurdles and challenges are embracing the concepts of building your PLN *(Personal Learning Network), as well as struggling through and learning new tools like Edmodo and new technologies like RSS.
The reflections on your blog are so valuable to others, as they can learn from your experiences and advice. It is a great service to "learn in public" and can be great for your students as well!