The Power of Curation

As we have seen in the previous videos, curation is a natural part of how students work in their online lives. Harnessing this natural process brings with it some exciting opportunities for learning.

The Skills of the Curator

Let’s consider for a moment the vital skills that a content curator needs and develops.

• Finding - The first skill a curator needs is the ability to find appropriate content. We live in a world where content is everywhere. We are no longer living in an age of scarcity of information - if anything we have too much information. And this means we have to learn to find the right content, and make sense of it. Finding the right content is where the activity starts. And the web is huge!
• Active Reading - The second skill the curating pedagogy encourages is active reading. If our students are simply given the chapter in a textbook they would have to learn how to effectively read through vast amounts of content to find the answers.
• Filtering - After reading content, the student now needs to select from this content what is relevant. This means making decisions regarding the relevance of the content. Filtering is a highly active exercise as the student assesses and evaluates the content after active reading.
• Categorizing - Lastly the process involves categorizing. This skill is also related to decision making as students attempt to organize the content into a meaningful arrangement. This is especially true when the content that is being curated has multiple facets.All of these skills are not only invoked but practiced and sharpened as students engage in the pedagogy of curation.