Week 4

1. I have to admit that initially, I did not understand the valuable potential offered by social bookmarking. However, I can honestly admit that I can see multiple ways in which it can benefit both teachers and students alike. For one, this course makes great use of social bookmarking via Diigo to link students to the required weekly web reading. These social bookmarks serve as invaluable tools that allow students to access a single, simple source containing links to various websites- all in one place! I am seriously contemplating the use of social bookmarking when I teach certain courses as there are various industry links that I would like students to be able to quickly access.

A second way in which social bookmarks could be utilized is by providing links to supplemental materials; such material may not be "required" but may provide students with opportunities for clarification on certain topics, etc. Furthermore, students could be assigned the responsibility of creating their own social bookmarks as a means of displaying the various internet resources that they have compiled relating to a particular area of study.

For this week's assignment, I used Diigo simply because I have never engaged in social bookmarking before and thought it wise to utilize the same source as this course. I added my Diigo link as a gadget in Blogger.

2. Five ways of incorporating Excel into the curriculum:

1. Students can use Excel to produce financial statements in business courses.
2. Students can use Excel in math classes for calculations and showing various equations, etc. It could serve as an upgrade to the traditional pencil-and-paper method.
3. Students could be required to track their own grades for a course in Excel over a semester. This would teach responsibility for maintaining records over an extended period of time in addition to demonstrating proficiency in Excel.
4. Students could be required to research statistics in a particular area and chart them in Excel and create subsequent graphs and analyses.
5. Students could utilize Excel as a means of maintaining a journal for a particular purpose. Excel would lend itself to such regular, organized input for the purposes of journal writing.