Some curation tools reviewed

Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash

Teachers have always been involved in curating information – even if it was just which section of which textbook shall I use to best explain this concept? Now of course with the increase of technology there are many more sources of information to choose from. These range from videos such as YouTube to forums, wikis and PLNS.

One way for the educator to keep track of all of their sources is through the use of digital tools.

There are many lists available suggesting digital curation tools such as this one– which also has some great tips on important aspects of content curation.

Here is a brief detail of my experiences with 3 digital curation tools – Pinterest, Diigo and Feedly.

Pinterest – I love Pinterest! It has so many pluses – it’s easy to use, boards are easy to create and it shows the pins as graphics which makes it quick to find information in a glance. A downside of Pinterest can be pinning and not going back to look at the pins (but at least you know they are there). I have used Pinterest for casual teaching for daily lesson ideas and also for library design and ideas. I like how Pinterest allow for sharing by allowing you to follow other user’s boards and suggesting boards to follow based on your pins. For a quick video tour of the Pinterest app on a mobile device hop over to here.

Diigo – I have been experimenting with this social bookmarking tool for collating articles I can’t download as PDFs to my computer. I like that it has editing functions to highlight notes and add your own sticky notes. Plus, it has the ability to add tags to articles so they can be easily found again and it has the option to mark the article as ‘read later’ for quick retrieval of unread articles. I’m not sure I totally trust cloud- based options though and some of the features I want to use are only available a certain number of times before they become premium paid features. Whilst I had known about online bookmarks such as Google Bookmark and thought they would be good to use for ease of access I hadn’t thought about the possibility of using bookmarks for social learning. Diigo is particularly useful if you wish to set up a group in the future and share bookmarks between users.

Feedly – I have set this up to follow blog posts by colleagues in my subjects. Prior to beginning my studies I had not heard of an aggregate feeder. It was fairly easy to set up once I had watched a few YouTube videos on it. The best way I found to create categories was by trial and error. Adding blogs based on their url was easier than trying to search the name of the blog. I also added the app to my phone so I can read blogs on it when I am out and about. The only downside seems to be I have followed some people’s blogs who don’t post very often. Feedly is a great tool for bringing new information to you in real time.

I would like to explore several other digital curation tools to see which would be most suitable to my work, including:

Feel free to add a quick review of any content creation tools you love (or dislike) to use.

Educators as curators

Photo by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash

When I first hear the word curation I think of museums and art galleries, however I would propose that educators have always been curators, in this case of information and knowledge. According to the Oxford English dictionary (2019) to curate means to ‘select, organize, and present (online content, merchandise, information, etc.), typically using professional or expert knowledge’. Teachers have always done this, whether it just be from deciding which sections of which textbooks to use or bringing in an analogy from real life. Now of course it also includes items from digital technology, YouTube etc.  Bhargava (2011) lists five types of curation:

  1. Aggregation – bringing the relevant information on a topic to one place.
  2. Distillation – put information in a simplified format, including only the most relevant information.
  3. Elevation – Identify larger trends from smaller bits of information.
  4. Mashup – merge existing content to make a new point of view.
  5. Chronology – organise information by time to show the progression of knowledge.

Traditionally, teachers mainly carry out curation of aggregation, distillation and at times chronology to make information more accessible, relevant and useful to users.

However, with the increasing amount of information available from social sharing and digital media educators need to curate to be able to effectively utilise information (Dale, 2014). As Rosenbaum (2011) states, ‘we can’t deal with the increasing amount of information by working harder or sleeping less, we need to change the way we think about things’ (so that’s why those strategies weren’t working!).

One process educators may use is the model proposed by Jarche (Dale, 2014) of seek, sense and share. This includes seeking out information (or using tools to make it come to you such as RSS feeders and networks) and making sense of information by using skills and knowledge to know which raw content is useful. Lastly, the curation must be shared with the intended audience (students, network etc) using storytelling techniques to join the information (Dale, 2014).

Kanter has further refined on this framework to include elements of curation and suggested time frames within each of the three elements.

 

Source: Beth Kanter www.bethkanter.org

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6164/6212246958_71d5878927.jpg

The table provides an easy to use guide as to elements of each stage and time frames. Many of the elements use a lot of common sense such as scan and capture high quality content when seeking, if you don’t it could lead to information overload and avoidance. Making a product and applying content in the sense category could make the curated content directly relevant to lessons/projects.

Whilst I agree with many of the elements, I do question how educators are able to fit in the suggested time for each activity each day in an already time poor practice of teaching. 11/2 -2 hours content curation a day, who has time even if the educator did incorporate it into lesson/library planning? This may be OK in the short term like planning a unit but is it sustainable long term?

Whilst being a good curator is a skill, technology makes curation available to everybody (Dale, 2014).

If you want to explore curation further this site  provides a great overview of the importance of curation for educators and a review of some curation tools.

Do you practise any curation for your work/interests? If so, which tools do you prefer to use and why?

 

References:

Bhargava, R. (2011, March 31). The five models of content curation [blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.rohitbhargava.com/2011/03/the-5-models-of-content-curation.html

Dale, S. (2014). Content curation: The future of relevance. Business Information Review, 31(4), 199–205. doi: 10.1177/0266382114564267

Curation. In Oxford English dictionary online. Retrieved from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/

TEDx Talks. (2011, June 6). Steve Rosenbaum – Innovate – Curation! . Retrieved from https://youtu.be/iASluLoKQbo

 

 

Curators – seeing the big picture

Photo by Linda Xu on Unsplash

The amount of raw data available to us is increasing at an amazing rate from digital information production and social media sharing (Dale, 2014). Interestingly, video is the fastest increasing category with footage from phones and Go Pros, and YouTube is the second biggest search engine (Rosenbaun, 2013).

With this increase in raw data digital curators are emerging as a profession who are able to provide user specific information (Dale, 2014). Bhargava (2011) list five types of curation, which may be read about here. Curators see the big picture and what they present helps us to find and use relevant information. But what makes a great curator?

Weisgerber (2011) provides eight steps on how to bundle the best information and build followers. Steigman (2013) also provides processes on how to content curate under four sections of audience, content, community and measurement. Common elements to digital content curation from both slide shows are:

  • Identify and know your audience – know which formats they like, what they will click on, appreciate and which media is best to communicate with them.
  • Select relevant information for your audience – for their interests/industry, help them do their job better.
  • Add value to the information you are presenting – either in the form of comments or putting the information in context.
  • Engage with your audience – provide a space for interaction and interact with them, don’t be a sharebot.
  • Credit your sources

Curators are able to use their knowledge, skills and tools to bring the information together. Dale (2014) has created a list of content creation tools that may be used for specific purposes. These include:

  • Find, aggregate and organise – Feedly, Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, Diigo, Evernote
  • News discovery – Newsle (now integrated into LinkedIn), Flipboard, Prismatic*
  • News creation/newsletter tools – Scoop.it, Paper.li, Storify*
  • Visual curation boards – Pinterest, Pearltrees
  • Social publishing hubs – Rebelmouse*
  • Networks – Google +, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn

Note: *Rebelmouse now appears to be a business for clients, try TINT (https://www.tintup.com/) for a social publishing hub *Prismatic and Storify are no longer in operation.

Previous to learning about content curation I hadn’t thought about the process of curation. Most of my practise of curating focused on finding and organising information, however, now I can see there are several other elements of curation I need to include. I also definitely need to incorporate more tools to aggregate and bring information to me.

What do you think is the most important element of curation? Are there any tools not on the list that you like to use for curation?

References:

Bhargava, R. (2011, March 31). The five models of content curation [blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.rohitbhargava.com/2011/03/the-5-models-of-content-curation.html

Dale, S. (2014). Content curation: The future of relevance. Business Information Review, 31(4), 199–205. doi: 10.1177/0266382114564267

Rosenbaum, S. (2013, October 7). The Coming Age of the Curation Economy: Building Context Around Content [online article]. Retrieved from https://www.thewrap.com/members/2013/10/07/the-coming-age-of-the-curation-economy-building-context-around-content/#.VdW7x1NVhHy

Steigman, D. (2013, December 11). How to be a great content curator (21 tips) [slideshow]. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/dariasteigman/be-a-greatcontentcurator

Weisgerber, C. (2011, November 16). Building thought leadership through content curation [slideshow]. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/corinnew/building-thought-leadership-through-content-curation

 

An exploration into Twitter

This is a post I wrote when I first started using Twitter but never posted, there will be another post shortly on my experiences so far with Twitter (this is now up and may be read here (Silver, 2019).

Studies have shown that educators value Twitter for its accessibility, ease of use and ability for interaction. It allows them to connect to other educators that they may not normally meet who have similar and diverse ideas. Twitter offers an alternative to personalise an educator’s PD (based on need and competence) in an atmosphere that relies on collective knowledge to learn rather than heirachies. It allows educators to exchange resources, practises and ideas (Carpenter & Krutka, 2015).

OK, I don’t know exactly what Twitter is, but it may be useful. I’ve heard of a Tweet or is that a Twitter? I’ve no idea! Will I ever get a handle on this?

This is an exploration of my venture into the use of Twitter, a totally new experience for me. As I begin I have feelings of overwhelm and despair – will I ever get the hang of this? I imagine this is somewhat how our students feel when given a new topic.

As Luca (2015) says ‘Twitter may not make sense immediately, but if you persevere, engage in the ‘give it a go’ mentality we Australians are renowned for, then you might just find a valuable professional learning tool’.

As my confidence grows I am sure I will feel more excited and curious.

For those of you who are as new to Twitter as I am here is some terminology to get started with, courtesy of Shannon McClintock Miller (2010).

Microblog: what twitter is, say what you want to say, but say it in 140 characters or less.

Tweet: when you send out a message or content (link etc).

Retweet: When you send on somebody else’s tweet to your own network, with or without a comment.

Hashtag: Using the # symbol to aggregate tweets on a given topic

Twitter stream: Constant lists of posts from people you follow.

Lurk: To hang about and view Twitters without commenting or retweeting.

As soon as I begin I feel overwhelmed by the amount of information – I must admit I do have somewhat of an attitude of ‘sufficing’ at times as I try to overcome information overload, to which one of the responses is not to look at information at all (Bawden & Robinson, 2009). This is how I feel about using Twitter – there is too much information, I don’t want to look because I can’t keep up with it. But I persevere. I decide to put the app on my mobile and having it accessible on my phone means I can quickly flick through posts and try to stay on top of my Twitter stream.

I lurk around for a while, seeing what people post and following more interesting people. I see interesting tweets I would like to save so I Google how to save a post (this is actually bookmarking a post, see how to do it here on a mobile).

Having been encouraged by seeing posts by other people I knew hadn’t used twitter before, I jump in and retweet – that wasn’t so bad.

I am starting to feel more confident in my ability to use Twitter and can see the potential it has for establishing my PLN. I have already come across some good resources for teaching and supplementing information for concepts I am studying at the moment.

Have you used Twitter or a social networking tool for communicating resources and ideas with others?

 

References:

Bawden, D., & Robinson, L. (2009). The dark side of information: overload, anxiety and other paradoxes and pathologies. Journal of Information Science, 35 (2) 180–191. doi: 10.1177/0165551508095781

Carpenter, J. & Krutka, D. (2015). Engagement through microblogging: educator professional development via Twitter. Professional Development in Education, 41(4), 707-728. doi: 10.1080/19415257.2014.939294

Luca, J (2012, October 27). Personal Learning networks [online article]. Retrieved from http://education.abc.net.au/newsandarticles/blog?id=40029

McClintock Miller, S. (2010). Enhance your Twitter experience. Learning & Leading with Technology, 37(8), 14-17. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/learn/edtech-research

Silver, T. (2019). Twitter – an update [blog post]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/learningawaits/2019/05/25/using-twitter-an-update/

 

Networks

“The Water Basin Project network map” by Choconancy1 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

A knowledge of networking and networks is becoming increasingly important in our society and for education.

But what is a network? A network is a group of people joined together – today mostly by digital means (Oddone, 2017). Oddone also outlines four defining features of networks. They are:

  1. ‘Nodes – points on the network
  2. Relations – the lines in the network, connecting in one specific interaction
  3. Ties – also connectors, but reflecting the totality of relations between nodes
  4. The network itself – how the nodes, relations and ties combine to interact as networks’.

You can read more on Oddone’s post here. 

As technology becomes more readily available and information increases it is important that we know how to use networks to find information. Before beginning this course I had an understanding of networks in the traditional sense but no formal understanding of how they worked with technology. McClure (1994) and Rhinegold (2011) present two views on network literacy but they both believe it is imperative for people to understand networks and how they work in order to make the most of opportunities in their personal and professional lives. McLure defined network literacy as a set of knowledge and skills needed to have the ability to identify, access and use information from an electronic network.

Rhinegold explains that the way the internet coding protocols (ICP) were established at the creation of the net changed the way data could be sent. There is now no centralised control, although government, laws and markets influence the structure. This lack of centralised structure makes the internet available to anybody who knows ICP – it is the ‘end-to-end’ principle. Whereas McLure’s views were on information retrieval from the network Rhinegold uses many theories, including Reed’s Law to demonstrate how networks now function with the advancement of technology and the introduction of web 2.0. Now networks are based around groups and these groups interact with each other to share information and knowledge regardless of time or distance barriers.

As I progress through my learning, it becomes increasingly clear how important networks are to learning about new resources, practises and opportunities.

Network learning is also becoming increasingly important in our education systems. Network learning is ICT used to promote connections for learning. Schools are seeing an increased need to use ICT skills for teaching and learning, however, the way in which ICT is used in learning and assessments is different to how they would be used in the workplace. A lot of student’s skills are assessed in isolation without being able to use ICT knowledge and skills as they would in the workplace. Student’s are also often tested individually, rather than a mix of both individual and collaborative work as they would be expected to achieve in the workplace (Wilson, Scalise & Gochyyev, 2015).

The lack of integration between the way employers expect employees to utilise technology and collaborative skills and the way the education system teaches and assesses these skills leaves a widening gap. This leads to the question – are students taught to integrate ICT and networks into their lives in a way that will be beneficial to their future? Does the education system need to change the way it implements and assesses? How does a teacher achieve this in an institution steeped in traditional systems?

 

References:

McClure, C. R. (1994). Network literacy: A role for libraries? Information Technology and Libraries, 13(2), 115-125. Retrieved from Proquest Ebook Central.

Oddone, K. (2016, September 5). Networks, networking and network literacy – Part 1 [Blogpost]. Retrieved from https://www.linkinglearning.com.au/what-is-network-literacy-and-is-it-important/

Rheingold, H. (2011, February 13). Network literacy part 1 [online video]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/g6UKWozzVRM

Rheingold, H. (2011, February 13). Network literacy part 2 [online video]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/g6UKWozzVRM

Wilson, M., Scalise, K., & Gochyyev, P. (2015). Rethinking ICT literacy: From computer skills to social network settings. Thinking Skills and Creativity,  18, 65-80.

What is a PLN?

Photo by John Barkiple on Unsplash

These were my thoughts exactly ‘what is a PLN and what does it have to do with connected learning?’ when I first encounter the term.
The acronym PLN may stand for many terms – personal learning network, professional learning network or as Terrell (2010) likes to call it a ‘passionate learning network’. Whichever terminology you choose to use the concept is the same. A PLN at it’s most basic is a group of people (network) that you choose to engage with in order to share ideas and learn from each other (Digitalang, 2012). However, it is also more than that, it is a support group who will challenge your thinking and provide you with new ideas and act as a sounding board for your own ideas. Through PLNs more can be achieved than could be by the individual (DPG plc, 2015). As the network is usually global thanks to the advent of digital technology there may be people in your group from various backgrounds and professions that you may never meet.

To be part of a PLN you need to have qualities of being willing to learn, share, have an open mind to different opinions and ideas and contribute (Digitalang, 2012).

LaGarde & Whitehead (2012) outline 4 basic stages in using a PLN:

  1. Consume – observe and collect new ideas
  2. Connect – comment, ask questions
  3. Create – recreate ideas and apply to your own practise
  4. Contribute – share your ideas, practise and resources

But where can you find people for your PLN? – online is best. Way (2012) lists several places, which include:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Nings
  • Google+
  • Diigo

Other useful ways to connect with others are by reading blogs, listening to podcasts, attending webinars and being active on forums.

I find the idea/concept of PLNs both interesting and challenging at this stage in my connected networking path. Interesting because the potential for personal growth is huge but also the ability to use global networking in the classroom is amazing. As Tolisano (2014) demonstrates the benefits your PLN can range from crowdsourcing for authentic data (slide 66) to bringing in experts from outside the school (slide 56).
Challenging, because at the moment on the participation scale of connected learning according to Jenkins I am a lurker. I am unsure of the worthiness of my ideas and reluctant to contribute, which is quite characteristic of a lurker. As I begin to establish a PLN and reach out through the use of technology such as following twitter accounts and blogging I am becoming a more confident connected learner.

As an update my PLN has helped deliver to me ideas for professional enhancement, such as :

  • Using Bloom’s taxonomy for reflective thinking
  • Preparing for future class requirements
  • Infographics summarising research on digital natives
  • Evernote
  • Pearltrees
  • Pocket
  • Curation

Where are you in your PLN path? How do you use your PLN? Have you taken PLN ideas or benefits of your PLN into your workplace?

 

References:

Digitalang (2012, February 21). How to build your PLN (Personal Learning Network) [online video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A667plNCzwA&feature=youtu.be

DPG plc (2015, November 23). What is a Personal Learning Network and why build one? [online video]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/IRHah3KPDYE

LaGarde, J. & Whitehead, T. (2012). Power up your professional learning. Knowledge Quest, 41(2), 8-13. Retrieved from https://knowledgequest.aasl.org/

Rheingold, H., & Weeks, A. (2012). Participation power. In Net smart: How to thrive online (pp. 111-145). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Terrell, S. (2010). Shelly Terrell: Global Netweaver, Curator, Passionate Learning Network (PLN) Builder [online video]. Retrieved from: http://vimeo.com/15880455

Tolisano, S. (2014). The globally connected educator – Beyond plugging in, towards global pedagogy [online slideshow]. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/langwitches/the-globally-connected-educator-beyond-plugging-in-towards-global-pedagogy

Way, J. (2012). Developing a personal learning network for fast and free professional learning. Access, 26(1), 16-19. Retrieved from https://asla-org-au.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/access

Tolisano’s four big ideas around connected learning

Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash

Tolisano (2014a) lists four ideas to become a connected educator. They are:

  1. Local isolation – knowing the isolation of teaching and becoming connected to other educators around the world.
  2. Perspective – be willing to offer and accept different perspectives about ideas.
  3. Crowdsource – the power of networking for ideas, content, services, data and approaches to learning/situations.
  4. Model – model network literacy by a. having a basic understanding of network technology by creating your own network, understanding network intelligences and  network capabilities.

How essential is each element? – well very, as they all work together to create a globally connected educator. The educator needs to be willing to move from their local area to a global area, be willing to share, be able to accept different perspective, have built connections and know how to use connections for learning and knowledge. I think that the benefits to students in connecting to the real world for their learning are enormous.

I would present the concept of a globally connected educator to my colleagues in a staff meeting as it would be able to reach a vast majority of people at one time (plus the meetings are compulsory and therefore have a captive audience). I would start by explaining the four ideas and show examples of how it is being used, such as in Tolisano’s (2014b) slideshow ‘The Globally Connected Educator’. I would expect the reactions of colleagues to be varied.  Some people would be excited, some (particularly those at the beginning end of the connected educator spectrum like me) may be curious but think it’s too overwhelming and some couldn’t be bothered (thinking they already have too much work to do and this would just add to it).

If I had produced any work where the students had participated in global networking, I would show that at the meeting as well to show what is possible at a more ‘local’ level.

 

References:

Tolisano, S. (2014, September 28a). 4 big ideas around the connected educator [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://langwitches.org/blog/2014/09/28/4-big-ideas-around-theconnected-educator/

Tolisano, S. (2014b). The globally connected educator – Beyond plugging in, towards global pedagogy [slideshare]. Retrieved from  https://www.slideshare.net/langwitches/the-globally-connected-educator-beyond-plugging-in-towards-global-pedagogy

 

 

Globally connected educators

Photo by Artem Bali on Unsplash

Nussbaum-Beach and Hall outline their image of a globally connected educator, who works collaboratively with others to build on shared knowledge (2011, p.20). Whilst I agree with their perspectives on a globally connected educator my personal reality is vastly different. I am still very much in the cooperation stage, where the contributions I make are individual, contributing to a whole. I am only just beginning a collaborative practise with establishing my professional learning network (PLN). At this stage I am a lurker in Jenkin’s participatory culture (cited in Nussbaum-Beach & Hall, 2011, p. 11). I am investigating and navigating tools to use to enable a collaborative practise as 21st century learners now have to be able to use digital tools to connect over a wider geographical area with an increasingly diversity of people Nussbaum-Beach & Hall, 2011, p. 4).

According to the scoring of the different literacies required to be a 21st Century citizen (Nussbaum-Beach & Hall, 2011, p. 14) I am not multiliterate with only a basic understanding of many of the categories. In fact, I think I may be almost illiterate! Overall, I didn’t find any of the literacy categories particularly surprising as they all centre around digital knowledge and global interaction. The least challenging literacy category for me is to promote and model digital citizenship as this is an area I have some knowledge of in respect to plagiarism and referencing. The most challenging is not a category but categories – I find all the literacy types challenging as they rely on concepts and skills I myself have not mastered yet but obviously need to in order to be a good educator in the 21st Century.

Nussbaum-Beach & Hall’s ideas of a connected educator are similar to my ideas in that a connected educator engages with others, is willing to share, is open-minded and reflective, listens, questions and has a willingness to try new ideas (2011, p. 11). Concepts different to my own of a connected educator were some I had not encountered or thought of before such as engaging in difficult topics and thought-provoking qualities like being mindful (how does mindfulness help?) and using a strengths-based appreciative approach (what is a strengths-based appreciative approach?).

I now know I have a lot to learn about modern literacies and it leaves me questioning, where do people find the time to be globally connected educators in a seemingly busy world? Or does it become easier as the educator becomes more connected?

 

References:

Nussbaum-Beach, S., & Hall, L.R.  (2011). Defining the connected educator. In The connected educator: Learning and leading in a digital age (pp. 9-24). Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com

 

A new culture of learning?

Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

Thomas and Brown state that the new culture of learning has 3 elements – play, imagination and questioning (2011, p.18). That a growing digital network will transcend the classroom and expand our learning opportunities with access to large amounts of resources and knowledge through our interactions with others online (Thomas & Brown, 2011, p.17). These interactions may happen through a myriad of online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Hangouts etc.

Whilst this is proposed as the ideal, how much of this really occurs in modern day learning and teaching?

Based on my own learning experiences in the past 2 years, a limited amount. Whilst this will vary for different people most of my learning has been based on face to face learning, a mix of online and face to face meetings and attending training courses through Adobe Connect. Virtually none of it has involved play and imagination, however, most of it has involved questioning.

Like Sam in Thomas and Brown’s article (2011) the majority of my most successful learning has come from collaborative learning processes using technology. I have found I learn a lot when I can use collaborative learning to ask questions,  ‘question’ my ideas and gain new ideas and perspectives. Thomas and Brown (2011) would define this collaborative group as a ‘collective’ group – ‘a community of similarly minded people’ (p.21). An example of collaborative learning for me happens in the Yammer Librarian’s group, where I have learnt a lot about the various aspects of librarianship.

Like Allen (Thomas & Brown, 2011, p.26) another area where I have learnt a lot from with my own self-directed, informal learning is by ‘Googling’ my questions (the problem) to find a solution – particularly with computer program related problems.

I feel in INF532 we are trying to establish a culture similar to the gaming student’s example in Thomas & Brown (2011, p.25) who had formed their own community for learning, using the readings to make sense of what they were doing. We need to use our readings and share our experiences to grow our understanding of the process and tribulations of collaborative online networkers.

As an educator I tend not to use online collaborative learning (mostly due to a lack of access to computers) but have focussed on more traditional cooperative learning strategies (Nussbaum-Beach & Ritter, 2012, p.13). Also, at this stage I am unconfident in my ability to provide collaborative learning opportunities to my students but hope with the establishment of my own collaborative network this will change over time.

 

References:

Nussbaum-Beach, S., & Hall, L. R. (2012). Defining the connected educator. In The connected educator: Learning and leading in a digital age (pp. 3-24). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). Arc-of-Life learning. In A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change (pp. 17-33). Lexington, KY: CreateSpace.

 

New models of information production

 

Photo by Matthew Guay on Unsplash

More information is produced now than ever before and is becoming increasingly entwined in our everyday lives (Bawden & Robinson, 2009, p.181). There are several characteristics  of how information is produced in these new models of information production.

The growth of the internet, world wide web and social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have enabled people to connect easily with others.

However, with the introduction of faster and easier connections comes new models of information production and perception of information. With the ever-increasing amount of information available there is a perception that information is easily provided and should be free content (De Saulles, 2012, p.33)

The effect of increased information and changes to the way information is accessed has changed the way some organisations present their information. One such example are newspapers, which have had to move some of their content online and even incorporate content from online viewers. However, this move to online services has also resulted in some content having to be paid for to cover production costs or a blurring of boundaries into more ‘popular’ content with attached adverts (De Saulles, 2012, p.23) or sponsored content (De Saulles, 2012, p.20).

With digital technologies comes the ability for organisations to reach people easily and promote their information. As Firmstone and Coleman’s (cited in DeSalles, 2014, p.18) example shows Leeds City Council has used the advent of social media to connect with people in their district. Other spaces such as libraries and museums are also connecting with their patrons via social media platforms, such as Sydney Living Museums Twitter and Facebook feeds.

There are several challenges these new models of information present for educators. These challenges are based around how to find, use and question information and give credit to other users. Challenges include but are not limited to the following:

  • Students need to be taught to question information – is there a motive other than to provide information? (is the author trying to sell something or influence the reader in some way?)
  • People need to learn how to sift through the myriad of information available (Bawden & Robinson, 2009, p.182) or they may suffer from information overload or overwhelm.
  • Some information may not be readily available to everybody – schools may have to pay for information – such as subscription services to World Book Online etc.
  • Companies such as Google and Facebook only show information they think appropriate to the user based on the user’s searches, likes etc.
  • Due to the collaborative nature of information on the internet students must question is the information true? correct? (De Saulles, 2012, p.19) or biased? For example, Wikipedia’s information may be skewed by the demographics contributing to it (De Saulles, 2012, p.32).
  • Being able to find and give correct credit to users who generate their own content that is then ‘aggreated’ by others (De Saulles, 2012, p.18).

Whilst the new models of information provide many benefits, users must be able to find the information they need and question its validity and usefulness.

What other challenges do you see occurring with new models of information production?

References:

Bawden, D., & Robinson, L. (2009). The dark side of information: overload, anxiety and other paradoxes and pathologies. Journal of Information Science, 35(2), 180–191.

De Saulles, M. (2012). New models of information production. In Information 2.0: new models of information production, distribution and consumption. Facet Publishing.

 

 

Step 1 of 2
Please sign in first
You are on your way to create a site.