Diigo

Presenter: Dave Ehrhart School District: Central York Email: dehrhart@cysd.k12.pa.us

=[|Diigo] is social bookmarking which gives you the ability to annotate or comment on online articles within the article.=
 * As social bookmarking it is like Del.icio.us and syncs with it and other social bookmarking sites
 * Create an account, download toolbar
 * Highlight online articles and annotate them. You can see the highlighting and comments inside the online article. The yellow highlights have no comments; the pink highlights have a comment attached.
 * [[image:peteandcentral:Picture_3.png width="612" height="308" caption="Screen shot of Diigo highlighting."]]
 * Create groups with students to share articles with you
 * You can verify their reading articles by checking their notes.
 * Differentiate instruction by using various levels of reading.
 * Students can find, highlight, and comment on the thesis, supporting points, or the main ideas of articles.
 * Great for students to ask questions on passages.
 * Use the Diigo "My Bookmarks" and "My Groups" to see student comments
 * The green boxes are the text the student highlighted. The yellow boxes are the student's comments on the highlighted passages,
 * [[image:peteandcentral:Picture_14.png caption="Screen shot from my Group page with a student."]]

Here is a [|screen cast] of how to set up and use Diigo.
media type="custom" key="501285"

=[|Comic Life]= This is a Mac program, but the same thing can be done with other applications with some variations. [|ToonDoo] is a web based application that is similar to Comic Life. This student compared and contrasted the economic programs of Presidents Reagan and Clinton. After completing the research, the students had the option of presenting the information to the class by any means available. It had to be very factual.

Here is the result; it's the most factual and creative project I've received to date. Reagan and Clinton: Super Power Fiends:[| Link to Teacher Tube Video]

=[|Google Custom Search Engine]= Using the Google Custom Search Engine, you can enter specific sites for students to use when searching for information. This limits their searches to valid sites you choose. You can assign students to find and use good sites for their research. You can post their sites to the Custom Search Engine after they validate that the sites are good resources for the research topic. It's easy to use and a great way to avoid "Googling" every topic. Add sites in the control panel.

[|My APUSH search engine] for AP US History. Students and I add sites as we find them. The students need to justify their selections.

=Video Conference with a former student serving in Iraq.= Using iChat on a Mac or [|Skype] it's possible to link your classroom with anyone in the world who has computer. If you both have webcams, you can video conference for free. This is a great way to open your classroom to the world. I set up a video conference with a former student serving in Iraq. The class talked with him via laptops for over an hour. b

=Searching a for a specific nation's sources= Type the following in the search bar: host: two letter abbreviation of nation "the subject you're looking for"

Example:

 * host: UK "president bush"
 * This search will give you sources from the [|United Kingdom and the War in Iraq].
 * This limits the search to a desired nation's sources.
 * The two letter abbreviations for all nations can be found [|here].

Notes from Dave's session: Works best in IE or Firefox. Not Safari Create groups of students- include yourself in the group Students highlight and comment on text Using Diigo-- teacher can see the number of highlights the kids make and see comments - without GOING to the article. In a nutshell: To get started- You need the Diigo toolbar and you need to create groups. You can make the groups private or public Do join the group via email- something to consider To use: Find an article - highlight- and use the toolbar to highlight (which bookmarks it- in del.icio.us, too) Once highlight- add a sticky note to add info to the highlighting Yellow is highlight, Pink is a comment

Idea: Teacher highlights items in an article, ask students to comment on the highlights

There are tutorials available

Diigo is very supportive-

Firefox and Answers.com Go the the Firefox add-ons page and install [|Answers]. After restarting Firefox option/click any word or name and the Answers.com explanation appears. If students don't know who Benarke is, they get the explanation below by option clicking on a Mac or right clicking on a pc.