Using Diigo to Engage Learners in Course Readings: Activity Design and Formative Evaluation

This paper discusses the design and initial formative evaluation findings of a learning activity focused on social bookmarking using Diigo. The activity purpose was twofold, to teach a new tool and to use the tool to facilitate interactions surrounding some of the required cognitive course content. During this activity, students shared and tagged relevant resources with their classmates and, engaged in collaborative article annotation. Findings show that in general most students were active participants and had a favorable reaction to the learning activity. Several students indicated that they already had or planned in the future to use Diigo either individually or collaboratively for both personal and professional purposes. Students who did not have a favorable reaction to the activity tended to have problems in the technology or focused solely on the technology component of the activity. For future semesters, greater emphasis will be placed on the content that students share and annotate, with the tool de-emphasized as a means to an end.