Using Social Bookmarking to Bridge the Education-Practice Gap in Nursing

August 31, 2010 - 3:16pm | by rtbrown
Presenter(s)
Kelly Kuhns (Millersville University, US)
Session Information
November 3, 2010 - 3:15pm
Areas of Special Interest: 
Social Networking
Major Emphasis of Presentation: 
Practical Application
Institutional Level: 
Course
Session Type: 
Great Idea
Location: 
Grand Sierra C
Session Duration: 
15
Concurrent Session: 
2
Virtual Session
Abstract

The volume of information and available websites to our students is overwhelming and many are unprepared to adequately search and evaluate the vast realm of resources. Further, if students are underprepared for this level of critical thought and analysis, then we cannot expect that the professionals we produce will be any better prepared. Web 2.0, and specifically social bookmarking, offers us the opportunity to have students not only engage in critical analysis of relevant websites, but also to develop a repository of sites that can be utilized by students and professionals alike. The current project utilized social bookmarking to create a peer-reviewed, critically analyzed repository of websites related to the course topic of Health Assessment in an RN to Baccalaureate nursing program. Students enrolled in the course were required to contribute a minimum of five quality, unique sites to the course social bookmarking group. When submitting sites to the course group, students also used tags created specifically for the project to allow the contributed sites to be fully searchable. Students were also required complete a written assignment detailing the type of criteria used to review sites, examples of sites that were reviewed but not contributed and why, as well as a critique of the sites submitted by their peers. Finally, students were encouraged to share the link to the Health Assessment Websites group with their peers and workplaces.

Extended Abstract

Objective: Analyze the use of social bookmarking as a course assignment. During this "great ideas" session, the pedagogocial reasoning for the use of social bookmarking as a course assignment will be discussed. Through the use of a course assignment that uses social bookmarking as a medium, students are both exposed to an innovative and useful technology but are also encouraged to utlize the technology in both their educational and professional lives. During this "great ideas" session, the course project will be described and demonstrated. This project, which utilized the www.Diigo.com social bookmarking tool, required students to analyze and submit at least five unique, quality Internet sites related to the course topic of Health Assessment to a social networking site. In addition, students were required to utlize specific tags created for the course assignment so that the list of sites is fully searchable. In addition, students were required to complete a written analysis of the asignment, which inlcuded a discussion of the criteria utilized to critique the sites, a discussion of sites that were reviewed but not selected for inclusion, and a peer-review of the sites posted by their peers. During this session, the challenges, outcomes and future development of the social bookmarking course project will be discussed.