Diigo

I don’t know if any of you have tried Diigo for doing research with your classes.  We have been working in grades 6-8 on building research skills with meaningful assignments that require students to delve deep and not superficially into a topic.  Part of this obviously requires students to research a lot online.  This can be incredibly frustrating when students are working on lap tops, school computers, home computers etc.  It is even more frustrating when working with a group.  You can imagine what it is like, not everything found is a “document” that can be saved.  Often it is a webpage.  Diigo is a tool that you can sign up for.  It allows you to create your own “favorites” type list on their server, not on your own personal computer.  Like Google Docs students can then access it anywhere!  To even top that convenience, it allows you to install their toolbar on any computer.  Once installed, a student can actually highlight and make notes on any webpage that is saved onto Diigo.  No more printing necessary!  Students are creating groups that collect sources together so they are able to collaborate and not repeat efforts.  If you have not done so already, try it and let me know what you think!