Group items tagged

So why do I use Diigo?   I like its ability to enhance my bookmarking with highlights and sticky notes, that are retained with the page when I go back to it. I like that you can highlight and publish easily from Diigo to you blog or an email, and a reference appears automatically along with the posting. I like the ability to create lists on specific topics that can be shared. I like the ability to create groups to pool resources for specific subjects. I recently joined a few Diigo groups and have had some very useful sites brought to my attention. I like that you can access and search the bookmarks anywhere by full-text and tags. I like to search for the most popular bookmarks on a particular subject. I like the different ways to share and aggregate information that  Diigo offers. I have set it up so that a list of my new bookmarks appears on this blog on a weekly basis but this is just one option. You can now choose to automatically The tool bar is easy to download and makes it easy to use and aspect of Diigo whenever you are on line.

Of course you can keep things private if you choose to but that is really defeating the purpose of Diigo in the first place. Diigo also began offering, on Sept 19th, a Diigo Education Account Facility. I haven’t investigated this yet but a post about it was put onto the SLAV Bright Ideas blog. It is worth looking at. From Diigo ‘The Diigo Educator Accounts offer a suite of features that makes it incredibly easy for teachers to get their entire class of students or their peers started on collaborative research using Diigo’s powerful web annotation and social bookmarking technology.’ For an educator account, you do have to apply and fill out how/why you want to use Diigo in your school.

Other people with similar interest would also be able to see your highlights. Diigo also allows a group of people to pool findings through group bookmarks, highlights, sticky notes and forums. Diigo has groups that are already formed. You can join any Diigo group for collaborative research. People are also using Diigo by posting to their blog depending on tags. For me the best feature is the highlighting of the website. As we all know, research on the internet can be overwhelming. The highlighting feature makes it much easier. Not only do I have favorite websites bookmarked but I also have certain parts highlighted on that website. Educators can join the education group to search the web for anything that can help them with their classrooms. I also think that teachers can use Diigo to teach students how to do research. Better yet, educators can teach them how to do some collaborative research.

Goof-off time shouldn’t be limited to summer vacation: it’s important all year.

st American children in the not-so-distant past, “going out to play” was the norm. Today, according to a University of Michigan study,

Just an hour a day of vigorous play — running, chasing, games like tag or dodge ball, and even dealing with or avoiding being excluded from these activities — can provide intense skill learning.

The power of networked learning outperforms that of any individual.  It was great to experience real collaboration (common goal and unrestricted sharing) and I’ve no doubtmy learning has benefitted.

However if I create the learning environment where they see opportunity for access through choice, they respond and access the technology readily.  This reinforces to me something I have long believed in – it is the pedagogy that matters, not the tools.  Knowing this, I can create and manage the environment that results in student engagement with all of these tools to enable and encourage learning.