What is digital curation?
It is the selection, preservation, maintenance, collection and archiving of digital assets (1). Once you have curated the digital content you might want to share with others. There are different ways of sharing this content:
- Sending out the link
- Retweeting on Twitter
- “Like” on Facebook
- “1+” on Google+
- Many others
Pick a topic or resource, such as an online blog, podcast, tweet, image, post on Facebook or Google+ that interests you. The source needs to be reputable and up to date. (Five criteria for evaluating Web pages).
Find an outlet. This is where you are going to write your reflection. These outlets may be set up as public (others can see your content) or private (only those with granted access can see your content). Some of these outlets may be set up where others can submit their comments for discussion. This feature may also be disabled if it is not desired. Here are a few social media outlets:
- Blogs
- Podcasts
- Websites
- Google Documents
- Storify
- What do you know about the subject (topic)?
- What do they present in the online material?
- What does the primary literature say?
- How does it compare/contrast to you current knowledge?
- How will this change your current knowledge?
- Can this be applied to a different scenario?
- Do you see any future controversies?
Become a content curator in three steps (2):
- Do it on a specific topic, so that you are seen as a trusted source or expert on that topic.
- Share only the best stuff.
- Do it continuously so that you are continuously providing up-to-date content.
Some educators might be a bit skeptical about the use of technology in education due to their unfamiliarity with this integration. These are 5 tips to help educators see how useful these tools can be.
Five Things Every Teacher Should Know (4)
1. Technology integration is about more than TOOLS
- Use technology to create a community
- Critical thinking and problem solving
- Communication
- Collaboration
- Creativity and innovation
- If you don’t know, know how to find it.
- Be a sponge, don’t let the “expert” label throw you off.
- Be flexible when using technology
Explore, gather some information, compare it to what you know, and share your experience with others.
- www.lifeinthefastlane.com - “...Dedicated to providing online emergency medicine and critical care insights and education for everyone, everywhere...”
- emcrit.org - An EM/critical care doctor who via a podcast explores ways to improve patient care.
- prehospitalmed.com - A doctor from Australia who discusses the improvement of prehospital medicine via a podcast by expressing his opinions on podcasts, blogs, scientific literature.
- www.emlitofnote.com - “Musings on publications and studies relevant to emergency medicine.” A blog run by an emergency physician who explores and gives his opinion on primary literature.
- www.sinaiem.org - A website run by Mount Sinai Emergency Medicine Residency, they explore and give their impression on online content.
- www.emchatter.com - “A link directory to for all things emergency medicine on the web”
- The short coat a blog by a medical student who explores online information and writes her reflections online.
Javier BenÃtez, MD
References:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_curation
2.Content Curation for Online Education
3. Personal Learning Environments And Personal Learning Networks Symposium
4. Five Things Every Teacher Should Know
image source: http://www.scoop.it/t/content-curation-for-online-students
