Putting a Pin in Education

I have been on Pinterest for almost two years.  I was surprised at how much I took to it, because I am a social media skeptic.  I usually move slowly when it comes to embracing new Web 2.0, for a variety of reasons I do not need to get into here.  The reality was that all my life I was always coming across ideas and interesting items at odd times.  You know, those times when  you cannot do anything with the information at the time.  And, naturally, you never think of these ideas when the time is ripe, or if you do remember the idea, you cannot remember any details or where you found the information.  This latter was always the most frustrating.

Enter Pinterest.  Ninety-five percent of the information I encounter is online.  So a tool like Pinterest was perfect for me.  I have Pinned recipes, quotes, amusing memes, breathtaking images, interesting products, DIY projects, gardening tips and other bits of interesting information.  A colleague had once told me about the commonplace book, which was popular from the 17th century until the late 19th.  The book was popular amongst scholars, used as a scrapbook of information.  It would contain pictures, recipes, horticultural tips, medicinal information, proverbs, tables, legal notes, and other useful facts--sound familiar?


So I view my Pinterest as my digital commonplace book.  And it works for me.  But I have come to realize that it is much more.  It is Web 2.0 technology, so its not just for me.  Now, I already knew that, a lot of my Pins I pulled from the Pinterest boards I am following.  However, I have not really thought of it as a broader, more versatile tool for collaboration--until now.  I just read an article from BBC Active that really broadened my perspective.  It discusses the obvious use of collaboration, where educators can share ideas.  I have already started a board for this purpose, though I do not have much in it yet.  But I had not thought of using Pinterest as a way to share resources and ideas with students!  And this may be because it is social media, and until graduate school, educators don't normally socialize with their students, at least not on any intimate level.  But once you get past the traditional norms--and let's face it, Web 2.0 is definitely breaking down some of our traditional norms--this idea presents a very powerful new tool that actually speaks to the digital generation in its natural language.


However, this article takes it a step further and suggests--wait for it-- that if educators can collaborate through Pinterest, and students can be guided to use Pinterest for learning, than they can use it to collaborate on group work as well.  Whoa!  Mind blown! (Okay, not really, more like, "Duh, dummy! Why didn't you think of that?!?")  So I did some more research via Pinterest, and I found another article on the topic.  Here, you can read 37 Ways Teachers Can Use Pinterest and get some more ideas.  And I've pinned it to my education Pinterest board, too.