Using social bookmarking to evaluate distance learners' information competence

Though not designed and delivered for educational purposes, commercial social media are increasingly being used in formal learning settings as an instructional tool. Specifically, the study examines the informational skills of a group of distance students from the School of Psychology. Students were asked to share on Diigo an article on the subject of Media Education. This exercise is based on information problem solving, requiring specific knowledge of the subject topic as well as three further skills: interpretation, action, self-regulation. Indeed, information problem solving is based on open problems and the solution can be undertaken in different ways. Students have to identify an article which is consistent with the theme; they have to share it on Diigo, choose the tags, and write a comment. The materials on Diigo have been analyzed through qualitative methodology, to explore whether information literacy can be a predictor of exam results and whether it promotes meaningful learning.