Content, content, ideas, information, messages, tasks, resources being pushed, tweeted, messaged, pointed, flashed, hash tagged and broadcast.
When drowning and overwhelmed in all this it is easy to step back and let it all keep flying around the world without you. But, what would we be missing? The curious benefit from ideas. Obviously, honing the skills of curation can enable participation and contribution. Curiosity becomes purposeful and fruitful.
Yet, with so many curation tools to choose from selecting one is a feat in itself. A considerable time investment is required to play with the different tools and work out which one is best for you. This seems an instinctive matching of the way you work and the way you move in digital technologies. It could be a problem for some flitting from one curation tool to another, while other people can do this seamlessly and keep track of exactly what content or projects they have on the boil in any given curation space. Not a good fit for me! The content and purpose matters a great deal. I garden, sew and knit and have loved Pinterest for the idea boards, advice, sources of techniques and examples. Until now I haven’t thought of using Pinterest to gather my own projects as a visual record and to record reflection of the process or things I might need to remember for another project. Nor have I thought of using it to share my ideas and tips with others.
One Note is what I use at present because it links with my email and calendar. It is easy to push articles to it and anything from my email. It is something I am comfortable with, the visual space is like a binder and that fits with me. I keep my travel and holiday plans there, lesson ideas, news articles and curriculum planning. I have tried to use it to collaborate with other teachers in my teaching area but we have not found the linking trouble free. We have also tried using Google Docs/Drive but technically it is not working out. So I am trying to find a collaborative space for teaching planning that is seamless. I have accounts for Evernote, Livebinder, Doceri, Prezi and that’s all I have. An account. Signed up. That’s it. And the problem here is the investment in time in finding out how they all work to be able to decide what works for that. Wanting to avoid fragmentation, I want curation tools that fit solidly with a purpose so I can easily distinguish what I have where and why.
So, signed up and curiously delving into what might be an intuitive fit for me.
Signed up and curiously exploring what might fit my young students to begin honing their own curation skills.
Thanks Tina for sharing your reflection on curation! The key really is to have curation tools that fit solidly with your purpose. Some of your tool choice will be more practical while others will reflect your own personal preference on how you prefer to learn and curate.
Google Drive is a good way of collaborating. I’m interested to know why it isn’t working out technically. I’m guessing it is either related to the technical skills of those collaborating, or their understanding of what is involved to collaborate or maybe the structure hasn’t been set up in a way that will work for what you are trying to achieve. If you can provide a simple example of what you are trying to achieve I may be able to provide some suggestions.
Sue Waters
Support Manager
Edublogs | CampusPress
Thank you Sue. I am learning so much through participating in Edublogs. I wish half the professional development I have done was this enjoyable and purposeful.
I would really appreciate your advice about google drive:
My colleague and I want to use something for our shared weekly planning, curriculum unit plans, lesson sequences and other planning documents.
We have found that working on a document from google drive is slow; there is a delay when you type. We are not sure if you need to take the document out of google drive to work on it and then upload it. We are using an older version of Internet Explorer which I keep getting a message to update – ‘modernize’ it tells me! But to what? (I am using Windows 7)
We also get confused with all the draft documents that appear and how best to file and order everything.
Now, why doesn’t Google Drive put together a course like Edublogs? It would help people get more our of their product, more quickly.
Hi Tina, thanks for the lovely feedback about our Teacher Challenge series.
Schools tend to be very slow to update Internet Explorer on their computers and Google doesn’t support Internet Explorer lower than Internet Explorer 10. If the version of Internet Explorer is lower than IE 10 it may cause issues. The simplest option is to use either Chrome or Firefox when using Google Drive. Most school computers run the latest versions of these web browsers.
You shouldn’t have multiple draft documents. Normally when you collaborate on a document you are editing the same document and it doesn’t save draft versions. This video might give you some ideas on how to use a Google Doc for collaborating – http://youtu.be/plYiLxkL9qc
Sue Waters
Support Manager
Edublogs | CampusPress