Weekly Report & Reflection blog post #4

This week we have been exploring social bookmarking and content curation tools, which I believe, are great tools that allow us to sift through and reflect on topics that are of interest to us personally and professionally.   

As educators, we have always been curators of content.  We have read books, publications, and news on current events to collect information and organize it so that we can present it to our students in meaningful ways.  Content curation is a great “method to help you stay informed about your field and be more effective at your job” (Kantor, 2011).  

I had heard about Diigo, but had never used it.  I can definitely see some benefits for teaching and learning.  Not only is the tool great for gathering information about a specific topic, but you can annotate and add sticky notes, which can then be shared for group work purposes, in classrooms, and/or amongst your social communities.  Now that I have found value in using Diigo, I can add it to my personal learning environment: 

I was introduced to Scoop.it about 6 months ago and it is a great content curation tool and I can also access it via my mobile app.  What’s valuable about Scoop.it is that it provides you with a list of relevant information about a specific topic of interest.  It is up to “me”, to sift through the resources and “scoop” or identify valuable information.  When using curation tools, it is important to not only find quality in the information we find, but to make constructive contributions and add value that can be shared with others.  “Aha”, this constitutes being a valuable digital citizen.  “Content curation and content creation aren't competitive… Curate or create content, but get correlated to the topical content of your industry and meet the quality standards to become fit enough to survive the evolving World Wide Web” (Ahuja, 2012).

There are many tools that can be explored to help us find relevant information on our topics of interest.  I came across the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2013 in my Feedly news reader, which I would like to share.  I believe when exploring social bookmarking and curation tools, it enables us to enrich our use of technology, as well as our critical thinking and reflective practice skills to allow us to transform personally and professionally.  

As digital citizens, it is important for us to contribute valuable information to the “World Wide Web” and use technology effectively and appropriately that will allow us to live in a digital society that promotes learning, social interaction, laughter (entertainment), and innovation.  

Ahuja, B. (2012, October). If you can't be a creator, then be a curator. Retrieved fromhttp://searchenginewatch.com/article/2221068/If-You-Cant-Be-a-Creator-Then-Be-a-Curator

Kantor, B. (2011, October). Content Curation Primer. Retrieved fromhttp://www.bethkanter.org/content-curation-101/