Activity 6 - Activated Classroom Teaching - Curation Activity
Activity Objectives
The previous activity introduced the ACT pedagogy. This is a unique digital pedagogy (teaching approach) that aims to maximise the benefits of teaching with technology by focusing on education before technology. In this activity we will focus on the first layer of the ACT model - curation. By the end of this activity you will understand the importance of curation as a digital pedagogy.
The previous activity introduced the ACT pedagogy. This is a unique digital pedagogy (teaching approach) that aims to maximise the benefits of teaching with technology by focusing on education before technology. In this activity we will focus on the first layer of the ACT model - curation. By the end of this activity you will understand the importance of curation as a digital pedagogy.
|
The ACT Model consists of five active layers, where each layer is a pedagogy that can be applied in the classroom. In this section we will consider the first layer of the ACT model - the Curation pedagogy.
One of the easiest to use, yet extremely powerful digital pedagogies at our disposal in our modern world, is curation. Curation is the process of finding, grouping and organising content into a meaningful and useful form. In this activity we will try out some curation for ourselves, because after all, it's when we do that we learn. |
First up, watch the following video for an overview of this powerful pedagogy of curation.
OK, so now you have an idea of what curation is. It is something we all do every day of our lives from choosing what we are going to wear (curating our clothing) to choosing what we buy at a shop (curating our groceries). The same activity is what takes place in online spaces all the time when people are choosing what to read, share, like, etc.
Social Learning Networks like Edmodo provide an ideal place to apply the curating pedagogy. Because Edmodo is built around a central conversation thread, posts often have content attached to them. This gives students the opportunity to either curate this content together or to create their own curated content from outside of Edmodo. One of the features that Edmodo provides that is particularly useful as a curating tool is the "Backpack" tool. Watch the following video for a brief overview of how the Backpack feature can be used by students to create content. Note: This is a student feature, so if you are signed in with your teacher account you won't see this feature.
Social Learning Networks like Edmodo provide an ideal place to apply the curating pedagogy. Because Edmodo is built around a central conversation thread, posts often have content attached to them. This gives students the opportunity to either curate this content together or to create their own curated content from outside of Edmodo. One of the features that Edmodo provides that is particularly useful as a curating tool is the "Backpack" tool. Watch the following video for a brief overview of how the Backpack feature can be used by students to create content. Note: This is a student feature, so if you are signed in with your teacher account you won't see this feature.
Types of Curators
The activity of curating can be approached in a number of ways, however the more active the role of the student in the curating process, the more effective curating is. The following is a range of different types of content curators.
The Hoarder - grab everything you can and file it away in a “read this one day” folder for yourself to maybe read one day.
The Spammer - grab everything you can and share it with the world whether they want to know about it or not.
The Faker - use tools to automatically grab content and share it while implying you have carefully arranged the content
The Aggregator - source selected content and arrange it into categories
The Elevator - source selected content, arrange it and comment on it, and optionally share it.
When considering curating in terms of the ETA model, curators tend to fall into one of two categories - passive producer (PP) or active producer (AP). The hoarder, spammer, and faker are all PPs. The aggregator and elevator are APs. While the first three types of curators produce content, the process is relatively passive. However, while these types of curators are passive producers, this is still a lot more effective than passive consumers. The Aggregator and Elevators are both active producers as these require a cognitive investment in the curating process. The Aggregator has to apply all the skills of finding, reading, filtering, and categorising. However the Elevator has to in addition to this editorialise the content by adding their own perspective on patterns, trends, etc.
Curating Process
The process of curating is dependent on the type of content curator we are hoping to develop. As per our definition above, we are looking for a curator who not only selects (hoarder) or even just arranges (aggregator) but one who also adds their own brain layer to the content (aggregator/elevator).
In terms of using curation as a pedagogy, the following is a typical process that is followed in a pedagogy of curation.
The activity of curating can be approached in a number of ways, however the more active the role of the student in the curating process, the more effective curating is. The following is a range of different types of content curators.
The Hoarder - grab everything you can and file it away in a “read this one day” folder for yourself to maybe read one day.
The Spammer - grab everything you can and share it with the world whether they want to know about it or not.
The Faker - use tools to automatically grab content and share it while implying you have carefully arranged the content
The Aggregator - source selected content and arrange it into categories
The Elevator - source selected content, arrange it and comment on it, and optionally share it.
When considering curating in terms of the ETA model, curators tend to fall into one of two categories - passive producer (PP) or active producer (AP). The hoarder, spammer, and faker are all PPs. The aggregator and elevator are APs. While the first three types of curators produce content, the process is relatively passive. However, while these types of curators are passive producers, this is still a lot more effective than passive consumers. The Aggregator and Elevators are both active producers as these require a cognitive investment in the curating process. The Aggregator has to apply all the skills of finding, reading, filtering, and categorising. However the Elevator has to in addition to this editorialise the content by adding their own perspective on patterns, trends, etc.
Curating Process
The process of curating is dependent on the type of content curator we are hoping to develop. As per our definition above, we are looking for a curator who not only selects (hoarder) or even just arranges (aggregator) but one who also adds their own brain layer to the content (aggregator/elevator).
In terms of using curation as a pedagogy, the following is a typical process that is followed in a pedagogy of curation.
- Find - Find suitable content. This could be done using obvious tools like Google, or it may be limited to a specific set of articles or a site such as wikipedia. Another option is that the content is sourced from Twitter posts or searching #tags or even automatically from RSS feeds and Google alerts.
- Select - The next step is deciding whether the content that has been found will be selected to be part of the curated content. While the steps are sequential, the first and second steps are iterative with students finding content, assessing whether it should be selected, then finding more content and deciding it if is selected, etc. The process of selecting the content is essentially a filtering process where the student decides whether to include the content based on relevance, quality, uniqueness of contribution, etc.
- Arrange - The third step is to arrange the content into a useful order. Depending on the tool that is used this may simply be a sequential ordering or a visual ordering. This is a very important step as it is here that the student needs to try and identify patterns, trends, similarities, differences, etc. in the content. Even if only these first three steps are completed - which might be called aggregating - students have already had to invoke multiple skills such as finding, active reading, and analysing.
- Amplify - The fourth step is then to amplify the content. This is where the students do the “value add” to the content. Based on their assessment of the content they now try and contextualise, summarise, add their own opinion to the content. This can be in the form of writing about trends seen in the content, interesting contradictions, patterns, or simply just a summary.
- Create - The final step is then to create a curated content piece. There are a wide range of tools that can be used to this from simply using Microsoft Word or Google Docs to tools that are specifically designed to support curation such as - paper.li, scoop.it, storify, learnist.
Curation Benefits
Content curation has many benefits, some of which we have discussed above. However there are various ways in which your students can approach curation. Curation is not simply about copying content from one place and pasting it in another place. Rather it is about applying our mind to the content. Read this article for a useful discussion on content curation and how we should approach it.
Activities
1. Time to get active...and stop PC'ing (Passively Consuming). Let's leave the comfort of this website and venture out into the world wide web...because that's where the content lies. You need to go and find one online tool that you think might be useful for supporting curating of content. Any tool that lets you organise content together into a single space. Curation after all is the pulling of lots of things into a single organised space. Use the search box below to get you going! (the results will open in a new tab so you won't lose your place). If you want a place to start you can also try this article, but I'm looking for original ideas!
Content curation has many benefits, some of which we have discussed above. However there are various ways in which your students can approach curation. Curation is not simply about copying content from one place and pasting it in another place. Rather it is about applying our mind to the content. Read this article for a useful discussion on content curation and how we should approach it.
Activities
1. Time to get active...and stop PC'ing (Passively Consuming). Let's leave the comfort of this website and venture out into the world wide web...because that's where the content lies. You need to go and find one online tool that you think might be useful for supporting curating of content. Any tool that lets you organise content together into a single space. Curation after all is the pulling of lots of things into a single organised space. Use the search box below to get you going! (the results will open in a new tab so you won't lose your place). If you want a place to start you can also try this article, but I'm looking for original ideas!
List.ly is an example of a tool that can be used to curate content together into a list. In addition to enabling curation of content, listly also allows for conversations around this content - the conversation pedagogy will be discussed in another section. The video below will introduce you to using List.ly for curation.
2. Now once you have found a tool head over to list.ly which is an example of a curation tool and add tools to the list of EdTech tools already included on the list. - Go to http://list.ly/list/lAi-technology-for-teachers and add your links to this list.
3. Check out the other links, and Like them up or down if you think they are good tools
4. Create your own list in list.ly of anything you like. One idea is to create a list of curated content for your class, and then youy can use this as an example of what they could curate about a topic. Share your link to your list on Edmodo. Remember, to move to the Elevator level you need to not only curate a list of tools but also add your own layer of content/discussion about the list.
3. Check out the other links, and Like them up or down if you think they are good tools
4. Create your own list in list.ly of anything you like. One idea is to create a list of curated content for your class, and then youy can use this as an example of what they could curate about a topic. Share your link to your list on Edmodo. Remember, to move to the Elevator level you need to not only curate a list of tools but also add your own layer of content/discussion about the list.
GO BACK TO YOUR EDMODO GROUP AND SHARE YOUR ANSWERS AS A REPLY TO "Activity 6 - Curation Activity"
PREVIOUS ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 1 - Intro & Changing World
ACTIVITY 2 - Big Mistakes
ACTIVITY 3 - Missing Pedagogy
ACTIVITY 4 - Education Technology Assessment
ACTIVITY 5 - Activated Classroom Teaching (ACT) Pedagogy
PREVIOUS ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 1 - Intro & Changing World
ACTIVITY 2 - Big Mistakes
ACTIVITY 3 - Missing Pedagogy
ACTIVITY 4 - Education Technology Assessment
ACTIVITY 5 - Activated Classroom Teaching (ACT) Pedagogy
Listly is just one of many amazing tools that you can use in your classroom to empower your students to use curation as part of their learning. If you would like to learn how to use Listly, and other online tools for curation, then join the @CTIVATED Classroom Course HERE. Email me for amazing discounts for schools and for people who have purchased the @CTIVATED Classroom book!