My working definition of content curation is more than a list of tools, apps, random articles and sites for individuals lucky enough to stumble across it. It is a collection of constantly updating tools and apps, current articles, and sites that are readily used. Because what is the point of knowledge on a shelf? When I read an article or find an app or tool of some kins, I keep in mind: 1. Why must I know this? 2. How can I use this? 3. When will I use this? If I am considering that an app or tool might serve as a resource for other educators or learners, I go a step further and apply the SAMR to see what the impact will be and if it is relevant.
Why must I use a Boolean Search?
For myself, when I am considering presenting some PD for colleagues, I may have a creative idea. However, I need to make sure it is connected to research to provide it weight. I consider how the information that I have learned from my search sparks a theme that I will build my presentation around. There are millions of artifacts at my fingertips thanks to the world-wide web and I could spend a life-time reading irrelevant materials. A good old fashioned boolean search always saves the day and me from embarrassment.
Consider This Extend Activity
For a Study Skills course offered to incoming Freshmen, I share with them the importance of identify academic sources. I honestly have zero idea why they almost always go straight to Wikipedia; especially when I don’t personally know a HS level teacher that encouraged this a source. Nevertheless, researching a topic can be overwhelming when a single word can generate millions of hits. One example that I use to demonstrate is a search for diabetes.
When I searched for an appropriate image, I originally used Google and the word “diabetes”, as you can imagine thousands of images. Then I attempted to narrow down the images by using “diabetes and Middle East”. This offered considerably less images and mainly charts. Then I went to Unsplash to search for “diabetes and Middle East” this did not end well as nearly 10k unrelated images appeared. However, the simplified “diabetes” yielded just over (50) images. This would have been great, but it was mainly images of delicious and colorful food. Third time is definitely the charm and worth it! Using Flickr Creative Commons I was able to locate current, relevant and diverse images that I could use for my presentation on how to search for academic sources on the topic diabetes.
Flickr Creative Commons provided the more relevant and diverse images that I could use. It was was easy to use and fast.
