I am really interested in using Diigo and have actually been using it myself lately for a few papers that I’ve been writing. I think it is a great source for keeping yourself organized. For a long time, I was really neurotic about printing things out so I could have a tangible hard copy of my sources but when my printer ran out of ink that became a problem. However, this website is great because I don’t have to be on my own computer to find all the things I had been doing research on.
I think this will be great for eighth grade English students. Kids no longer desire a hard copy of things because so many of them grow up with computers in a way that is so different from how I did. Using this cleanly organized source, they can do research at school and access it at home or in the public library. It is very simple and incredibly easy to understand how to use. I think this will be very helpful when it comes to teaching students how to write research papers.
I absolutely think web 2.0 technology is not only useful but also necessary in K-12 education. I think, however, one thing that would be very helpful would be for students to learn web etiquette. That was something I had to learn by making mistakes and many of my friends have shared the same thing with me. However, I think that computers in daily life are no long something of a privilege, but rather a fact. Students are going to need to know how to use one in order to succeed in any job or career that they enter into.
Diigo sounds really cool! I like how Web 2.0 gives you accessibility to information in class and at home, without needing to keep textbooks, maps, etc. etc. on hand all the time. I think it's definitely a good idea to use it in the classroom, and I like what you said about computers being a fact, rather than a privilege. It's totally true!
ReplyDelete