The Classroom Digg Effect
Nov 7th, 2007 by Scott Walker
From time to time teachers often like to assign something like this:
Students are to read through magazines or scholarly online articles and find 3 that are relevant to subject X. Each article will need to be accompanied by a short write-up documenting their relevance to the topic.
This isn’t a bad approach, and actually brings a fair amount of relevance to the material the teacher is covering. But let’s imagine something bigger. (This one hits fairly hard on the advanced side, but is great for showing where things could go based on technology we have right now.)
Imagine if… students could submit these similar articles online as links, tag them, post them under categories, add comments, and have the ability for other students to comment on and vote for them. Imagine if all of this was laid out on a webpage, accessible to all students, and became more than a resource, but a community as well. This is the digg-effect, and it’s taking place in our classrooms. (See digg.com if you are unaware of the above reference.) Beyond all of this, it is available to be installed on a school server and customized to fit any classroom. Possible? You bet.
The possibility lies in a little Web 2.0 magic that mimics the way digg is run. One such version is called Pligg. Once installed on a school’s server, the teacher would be able to invite students as members, create categories relevant to class topics, and moderate everything that happens. The end result is when students are submitting, commenting, and voting on valuable, relevant materials that become incredible resources to both student and teacher.
Interested in exploring this possibility or done something similar? Let it loose in the comments.