How I Use It
There are two primary ways in which I have used diigo.
The first is to help students learn to read digital texts effectively. I share a .pdf document with them (story or nonfiction reading) and show them how I use the diigo highlighter and annotation tools.
I then create student accounts via diigo in a batch (quick and easy). I then share a new document and have them collaboratively annotate a text with simple prompts (new words, questions, key information etc.).
The second way I frequently use diigo (and the reason I started with it) was to help students do effective research. When we have an upcoming project involving research, I do my own research to find sources that students can use for the project. I bookmark them with a class -distinctive tag (for example, RoomXurbanisation).
When students start research, I have them start from that tag. After a couple of days, if a student feels confident, I have him/her find his/her own sources and bookmark them with the same tag (so that EVERYONE has more resources to build from). It deepens research and encourages collaboration.
My Take
Diigo is a great tool, and I use it myself for most of my own 'bookmarking' activities. I say 'bookmarking' because diigo really pushed the boundary of traditional bookmarking.
They added:
1. sharing to specific groups (like classes)
2. annotation of webpages
3. search functionality within your bookmarks when you do a google search (if you enable it)
They also made it incredible teacher friendly. Teachers can:
1. create student accounts quickly and easily in batches
2. control rights and log on credentials (because students NEVER forget passwords, right?)
It's actually the best bookmarking/curation tool I have found in terms of functionality, but I find flipboard (which I reviewed here: /app/flipboard-your-social-news-magazine-teacher-review/4067671) to be more appealing and engaging to students because of the visual magazine format.
