Our new Prof Picks section features selected new media resource “picks” selected by NMCC faculty affiliates. Our first Prof Picks feature is Professor John Fenn, Assistant Professor in Arts & Administration.

Professor John Fenn, Assistant Professor, Arts & Administration

“As a social bookmarking tool, it enables users to gather, annotate, and share web-based resources across multiple devices and platforms.” 

“As any student who’s been in one of my classes can attest to, I use Diigo quite a bit. As a social bookmarking tool, it enables users to gather, annotate, and share web-based resources across multiple devices and platforms.

My initial attraction to Diigo stemmed from the fact that it is decoupled from a specific browser or computer/device. By using it, I no longer had to be sitting in front of a particular computer using a particular instance of a particular browser to recall a link I had saved.

Furthermore, Diigo enabled me to tag resources and annotate them—both within the Diigo site as well as directly at the URL I had saved.

Diigo’s “Group Feature”allows for the sharing and annotating of links with multiple viewers.

At first I used Diigo to prep for courses and in my own research, but then I expanded my use of it by building the platform into courses. Drawing on the “group” feature, I started generating course-based groups through which students would gather and annotate links.

Some of these groups were informal, meaning I did not require participation, but others were tied directly to assignments (depending on the course and learning objectives I had crafted). No matter how I have used it in a course, though, I try to introduce all students to the service so that they can explore it on their own and find fit with their own web-based pursuits, academic or otherwise.”

Interested in learning more about how you can use Diigo in your own research? Please contact John Fenn for more information. You can also read more about Professor Fenn’s  research interests here.

Are you a UO faculty member interested in getting involved with NMCC and/or being our next Prof Picks feature? Please contact us.