Diigo as a Tool to Increase Class Participation

 I began this week’s reading for EME6414 by diving into an article by Im and Dennen regarding the Diigo tool, which I had never heard of. Apparently, this is a method for booking marking data on social media sites, along with including some note taking functionality. What Im and Dennen are focused on in this article, however, is the ability for Diigo to help with collaboration and sharing across students in a course. I was not surprised to learn from the study that the tool was extensively used by a few members of the class but that many participated only minimally. I was also not surprised to learn that many who did participate were more engaged with the instructors content than that of other students. 

The findings of Im and Dennen do not, I think, point to the overall effectiveness or ineffectiveness of Diigo, but instead to how students respond to new forms of technology when they are being asked to do so as part of a class. It was nice to hear those students who were actively participating found the activity helpful and even indicated that they would share some of the insights and knowledge that they learned with other family members. 

Interestingly, the authors concluded that "Diigo became a tool of focused, resource-oriented interactions rather than general conceptual ones." It makes sense that this would be the cased based on the limited knowledge that I have of the tool. This type of sharing of information would be helpful, even if the ultimate goal of increasing user collaboration and sharing of personal ideas did not happen on the level that one would want it to.