Hi all,

I just started using diigo with my year 9's also. Whilst I was well familiar with social bookmarking, diigo is really much more than just social bookmarking, it's a true social networking site. I discovered this the hard way with my 9's. So here's some advice to those contemplating the move:

1. Get an educator's account, then get a written list of the students' emails and add them manually. (I avoided this step thinking it would be inconvenient and was so, so wrong. It's much easier to start a group, and add the students manually.)
2. When they get started they are quite excited and immediately test all the boundaries. So you will need to make your expectations clear and that they understand that using diigo in class is different from using facebook at home. Also note that diigo has this annoying feature which allows one user to spam (with hundreds of messages instantly) once they've friended each other. Sadly I've had to discipline students for inappropriate use. They'll have a tendency to do this until clear boundaries are established.
3. Give them clear instruction on how to bookmark and tag, as well as highlight and comment pages - and why this is useful for students. They won't "get" this automatically. Provide examples you've set up for yourself.
4. Have fun! Whilst I mention disciplining, this was an extreme case. I was worried about the parent and teacher backlash, especially if a student did something really inappropriate. But most students start to get into it once they understand it and how it can be useful, as well as how it has similar features to other social networking sites they use. Once they start communicating with each other via diigo, they start to get into it. And right now my class seems to be settling down and using it sensibly for their research assignment.

Best wishes, sol