Social Bookmarking and Inquiry-Based L earning

1. Social Bookmarking and Inquiry-Based Learning Jamie Wood Department of Religions and Theology University of Manchester woodjamie@hotmail.com

2. Overview of talk • Inquiry-based learning • Social bookmarking • What we did… • What the students thought… • Reflections and practical considerations

3. Inquiry-based learning: two definitions “Inquiry refers to instructional practices designed to promote the development of high order intellectual and academic skills through student-driven and instructor-guided investigation of student-generated questions” (McMaster University) “An array of classroom practices that promote student learning through guided and, increasingly, independent investigation of complex questions and problems, often for which there is no single answer” (North Carolina State University)

4. Social bookmarking Way of storing, organising, searching,andmanaging bookmarks of web pages Users save links to web pages (bookmarks) Usually public; can be shared with groups or keptprivate Uses metadata, typically tags, instead of traditional folder system Bookmarks associated with a given tag can be viewed Possible to use web feeds to keep subscribers updated on new bookmarks as they are saved, shared, and tagged by others CILASS THEMES COLLABORATIVE INQUIRY NETWORKED LEARNING INFORMATION LITERACY

5. Social bookmarking and IBL • Networked learning • Information literacy element • Social/ collaborative element • Active engagement • Questions...? ‘tag cloud’ created by my classes in 2008

6. Context • 1st year core History lecture-based module • 1 seminar per week for two groups • Heavily asssessed: • Oral presentations (2) and class contributions assessed (17% of course mark) • Assessed essays (33%) • Exam (50%)

7. 2008 Aims • Students • To get students to practice their questioning skills • To encourage efficient and effective use of the web through a constructive approach • Me • explore relationship between IBL and questioning • make classes more relevant to students • be able to see what they had done in advance

8. What we did – 2008 • Delicious site and blog • Common login • Weekly bookmarking homework: • Find 3 websites • Tag with a short description, descriptive keywords • I did the same • Each student posted a weekly question arising from their readings = inquiry • I read blog and delicious, using them as a basis for seminar preparation • http://delicious.com/paganschristiansheretics • http://paganschristiansheretics.blogspot.com/

9. 2009 course • I chose a platform that could host both a blog-type function and the bookmarking/ tagging • I chose diigo.com

10. Bookmarking • Similar basic functionality to delicious • Description • Tagging • Sharing

11. Discussion forum • Replaced blog • Primarily a place for students to post pre-seminar questions or other activities (feedback) • Place to upload weekly homework/ handouts

12. And more… • ‘diigo for educators’ account – private, separate logins • Highlighting • Sticky-noting • Sharing “I just think that this bit is interesting when we consider how quickly Clovis decided to switch allegiances to the Christian God from the Pagan gods.He seems pretty adamant in this extract that his gods are better than his wife's Christian God. It might just be me but I can't help but think that Gregory has missed something out in his analysis of Clovis' conversion, in between this point and when Clovis makes a deal with Jesus when he is losing a battle against the Alamanni.”

13. Pre course survey Majority of student preferred for questions to be set by the tutor. All students: • thought that questions were either ‘very’ or ‘quite’ important to their learning. • were happy with setting questions for seminars. • were positive about the opportunity to use an online discussion forum for questioning and interaction. There was some concern about technical aspects of the software, getting used to using it.

14. What happened • 19 students and me • We ended up (over 11 seminars) with 147 posts to the forum • 314 bookmarks (including ones from last year’s course), using 590 different tags

15. Varied activities – some examples • Locating and bookmarking source(s) • Find and bookmark primary/ secondary source • Add description and tags • Non-written sources • Find and bookmark a non-written source (YouTube; Flickr) • In description, explain why this source is relevant to the seminar • Essay writing • Respond to feedback on essays by bookmarking a relevant site • Revise thesis statement from first essay and post to discussion forum • Highlighting • Highlight and comment upon relevant sections of a document which I had pre-selected • Questioning • Post a question based on reading to the discussion forum

16. Student feedback 15 responses to questionnaire In general, positive about diigo, more so than delicious • Collaborative generation of ideas • Practical use in preparing essays • Enjoyed the opportunity to find own sources • ‘There is more freedom of choice about what to read’ • Different way of learning: ‘it is much more interesting, and because you are not only reading, it is easier to absorb the information.’ Difficultiesto do with getting used to the technology at first

17. Setting questions – 3 conceptions By tutor: Helps to give direction; reassuring; makes sure what you are doing is relevant and useful; gives focus to research; links to lectures; student questions might not be challenging enough; more likely to lead to a ‘good’ answer; helps with new areas of study Mixture: “A mixture is best to make sure key themes are not overlooked by setting your own questions gets yourself and others thinking more.” By students: More interest; more control over learning; opens up discussion; allows exploration of topics students are uncertain of “I like the fact that we've got to set our own questions as it means that we focus on areas that I or other members of the group are unsure about. I think I've learnt more from it.”

18. Changing conceptions • “I used to prefer having the questions set for me but I think it has been more useful setting them myself as it has made me think about the reading more.” • “I used to like just being set questions, but now I have realised how beneficial thinking of your own questions is. I much prefer it.”

19. Posing questions and sources • ‘it forces you to think about the source material and be analytical in response to it’ • ‘makes you read the article properly as you have to think about it’ • ‘It has definitely made me think more about what I was reading and thought how it related to lecture topics as well’ • ‘it makes you think about what you're reading a lot more, and opens up the area of reading to different paths of thought.’

20. Posing questions &learning from others ‘it has been good to see what other people have put and there was probably more variation in the questions than if the tutor was to set them.’ ‘it allows you to see a wider range of issues that come up from sources - some that you may not even have thought about.’ Research skills 80% of students felt that their research skills improved ‘normally the reading for seminars is set for you, whereas we often have to find our own reading for this seminar...I have become much more adept at using JSTOR's search functions.’ ‘particularly with reference to primary sources. The course puts more focus on primary sources than any module so far, and they were a bit of an abstract concept before…I feel better able to find, evaluate and use them now.

21. Reflection: practicalities & possibilities • Issues • Stability of links • Password protection/ off campus access • Problems with tagging protocols • Move from common logins to different student accounts…allows tracking • Assessment not as important as I’d thought in generating engagement – though rationalisation is • Reminders help • Support resources – can be tagged (past papers, essay writing) • Tips • Variety and specificity of tasks (what and why) • Modelling of tasks • Bring the technology into the classroom • Support for engagement (existing support at service provider)

22. My reflections – learning • Develops range of skills (technology; information literacy; research) • Models disciplinary processes and develops disciplinary skills (summarising; use of sources) and knowledge • Other • Versatile beyond IBL • Room was important • Possible to replicate functions in a VLE • Lots/ all of this is true for web2.0 more broadly

23. ‘The whole of diigo has been invaluable. It is an excellent resource to find articles for essays and the tags and descriptions people have assigned to journals give a good summary. The questions on the forum raise issues that I may not have thought about otherwise.’ • ‘It is useful as I then identify areas of the module that I am less confident with and can address them with extra reading. They [the questions] also stimulate my thinking, and I think about other issues that interest me relating to the course, not simply what the tutor has asked of you.’