Instructional Technology Newsletter 31: Introducing Diigo

What is Diigo?

Diigo is a research tool that gives you the ability to annotate digital resources directly.  It is the digital equivalent of making a photocopy of a resource page, writing your notes on it, and saving it in a manila folder for later use. With a free Diigo account and browser extension, you can highlight content on any website or create a sticky note. When you save the linked resource in your online Diigo Library, you can tag that link with keywords that will make it easier to find again.

In the Diigo Library example below, you can see my sticky note “There are so many videos!”, marked with a yellow square at the left. Additionally, you can see a copy of the text from pages I have highlighted, which is marked with the yellow bar at the left of the text.

With a free Diigo account, you also receive 5 Outliners, or pages with links to your annotated resources, and the ability to add your own headings and text. Outliners also hold the links to your resources, the contents of your sticky notes and the highlighted text you have saved during your research.

As an example, here is an outliner about Student Engagement in Online courses. Here you can see my topic questions, and the text that I have highlighted on a resource page. By clicking on any of the links within the outliner, you can find those resources. You can also click on Convert to convert the text you highlighted into bullet points.

Outliners can also be exported in a variety of ways, including as a Microsoft Word document. Outliners are also shareable, and can be sent to other colleagues or students through a simple link:

This example outliner can be seen by clicking this link: https://www.diigo.com/outliner/eycvtn/Faculty-Guide—Student-Engagement?key=ozb4z51h6q

How can I get Diigo?

Diigo works best when using the Chrome extension, and can be turned on and off by going to Chrome Settings, More Tools, and Extensions. Create your account here: https://www.diigo.com/

With a Diigo account, you can also use the Diigoapplet in your bookmark bar. The Diigolet can be accessed from any computer, including student computers in the labs, or your computer from home. Diigolet can also work with your mobile devices.

You can find the Diigolet tool by clicking this link. https://www.diigo.com/tools/diigolet

Helpful Youtube Videos:

Diigo Tutorial: Setting up your account, downloading the chrome extension, and using Diigo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rstsjVGwDaM

How to add a Diigolet: Adding and Using the Diigolet Button
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOEGohgZ39Y

Diigo Outiner: Ordering and structuring your resources using Outliners
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8yoSzn6Fp8

Diigo Outliner Tips: Advanced functions with Diigo Outliners (a little bit long):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaQnyNlMR6A

 Previous Instructional Technology Newsletters are located here:
About the Committee:
The Instructional Technology Committee at Mary Baldwin College is a faculty committee made up of representatives from the faculty and Instructional Technology staff at MBC. Members of the Current Committee are:Sharon Barnes
Doreen Bechtol
Paul Callo
Calvin Chung
Carol Creager
Emily Ely
George Guba
Joe JohnsonCarolyn Moore 
Beverly Riddell
Carey Usher
The charter of the committee is to:
  • Provide a forum for input to the Instructional Technology staff on the relative value of technological improvements from a pedagogical perspective.
  • Be a champion and example for technology enhanced teaching within their schools
  • Try out new technologies that seem promising
  • Develop and share best practices & rubrics for technology enhanced teaching
  • Recommend equipment and management for mixed use (instructional and non-instructional) space
  • This committee meets as necessary.
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