I'm a Curator!

I've got to say, I've fallen in love with Scoop.it. I think I've finally found a tool that lets me organize resources, and as long as I tag things properly I should be able to find them again! I had been using tags in Google Reader for this task, but with its demise I've been struggling, and unhappy with the tagging schema of Feed.ly.

But in starting to do a better job of curating content, I'm finding that there's a lot of poor curation out there. After doing some research on what the experts have to say, and adding my own twist based on what I think works best for K-12 students, here's my list of helpful hints for content curation.

Plan 

• Your curated content should be organized in a way that makes the most sense for students. Depending on the number of resources you expect to provide and the grade level of your students, consider organizing by unit, by subject area, or by broad theme. If a resource doesn’t fit your well-planned topics, it’s probably not a good choice for your students. 
• Make sure that the resources match student needs. Consider academic content standards, student reading levels and interest levels, and language. 

Evaluate & Select 

• Choose the best possible content in your topics. Just because a resource has the same topic doesn’t mean it’s what you should use! Select only the best in your topic collections, which are the best fit for your students. 
• Make sure the resources model ethical online behavior. Images should be cited, ideas should be referenced, and original work should be included. 
• Make sure the topic collection contains resources representing a variety of mediums, including scholarly text, video, images, and other multimedia. Most topics should have both narrative and informational content, from both conventional and social media sources. 
• Ensure your curated topic tells a story by bringing together different perspectives. It should knit together “several works in a way that may lead to greater appreciation, understanding and insight” (Harris-Roxas, 2012). 
• Keep the topic timely. Outdated resources should be removed, and more current resources need to be added regularly. Note: this doesn’t mean all resources need to be less than 6 months old! The British Museum’s King Tut exhibit is timely regardless of when it was updated. 

Organize & Annotate 

• Provide context for the resources you’ve selected. If there is a particular section you want students to focus on, say so. If the resource provides background information, be clear that’s what it’s for. If two resources provide contradictory information, reference that so students can start to make critical judgements. 
• Tag your resources to make them more easily searchable. Consider setting up a tag collection with students, so that they have ownership of the tags and the organization makes sense to them as well. 
• Make sure your resources are all well labeled. Sometimes “scooping” or “pinning” a resource captures something meaningless as the title - clean it up so that the title actually matches the content. 

Connect & Share 

• Join groups or follow people that regularly post reviewed resources in your chosen topic areas. Use expertise in the cloud to help you find high-quality resources that match your topics and audience. 
• Keep the conversation open. Comments by students and/or colleagues on resources add a timely element, and may help to further contextualize the content.