Have you ever wanted to create collaborative groups with your students that could possibly have the option to work collectively in and outside of the classroom? I want to share a Web 2.0 tool called Diigo Education. Now, we are already familiar with Diigo since we will be utilizing this tool for our Action Research Projects, but Diigo Education is a fantastic grouping tool to use with students in and outside of the classroom.
Diigo Education makes it possible to have students create a learning community not only within the classroom walls, but to also extend their collaboration outside of school. This effective tool makes it possible for teachers to create collaborative groups to use during project-based lessons that involve the power of working together towards a common goal. The aspect that I think I like most about this tool is the fact that educators can use it to effectively teach students how to not only collaborate together, but to also understand the purpose and importance of researching a specific topic.
As a teacher, I always strive to impress upon my students the importance of gathering facts and information to support a main idea. This is simple for some, but for the most part, difficult for individual elementary students to grasp. When there is a group involved, not only is there more than one brain at work, the group is enhanced by having the capability to share their findings online through Diigo Educator. This alone creates a safer environment for students that wouldn’t normally share out in class, to be able to give input within this community.
Finally, Diigo Education is free for teachers! To apply for a Diigo Education Account online, follow this link and you can then have access to everything from whole class accounts, email accounts, and pre-set privacy settings so that teachers and students are the only ones allowed in the group. Everything through Diigo Education is filtered and safe, so teachers don’t have to be concerned by what students are viewing in and out of school within Diigo. In fact, my application for Diigo Education was just accepted and I now have my account ready to go for next school year.
I even got this cool Diigo Education Pioneer badge for joining!
diigo education pioneer
All in all, Diigo Education is a fantastic Web 2.0 tool for integrating more effective group collaboration within the classroom.
Students Using Diigo on Computers image by theunquietlibrary used courtesy of Flickr through a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic
Here is my comment.
ReplyDeleteI'll be interested to see how this differs from other collaborative tools. I'm curious to know what Diigo Education is doing that makes it more effective and exciting for both teachers and students.
ReplyDeleteI'm all pumped about getting students to use these online organizational tools that we are using as well, but do you know if there is any problem with having them create accounts? I mean, they will have to have an email right? Do we have to ask parents if they can create an email and/or any other accounts that we are using? Just trying to be safe...great post though!
ReplyDeleteTricia, typically your district will have policies in place that will tell you what you can and can't do. Start with knowing what Diigo offers as far as safety issues, find out what your district policy is, then take that to your principal for approval. It might help to get a couple of your colleagues on board as well:)
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