I just referred to Scootle as a curation tool in an email to the NSW DoE Library Coordinator. The reply was quick. Scootle is not a curation tool, it is a “digital repository”.

I remain mostly in the dark about curation tools, pathfinders and generally, the best way to “resource the curriculum” even though I have successfully completed ETL503. I googled. Again. I found this chestnut by Kay Oddone…

Digital content curation: How to do it right!

So now I feel empowered to Blog (but not enough to reply to the library coordinator) that I think Scootle is a curation tool. According to Oddone, for a resource to be curated it must be:

• Carefully selected for it’s intended audience and purpose
• Annotated so that others can quickly decide if it is suitable for their use
• Shared with others via a platform that suits all users

Scootle does all of these things.

Of course, a qualified TL would add further evaluation measures to the selecting step and ensure that copyright laws were followed.

And this is where the grey area starts. Is Scootle NOT considered a curation tool by some because the collection can be created by anyone, regardless of qualifications? I am an unqualified TL yet I was included in an open invitation to NSW DoE TLs to work for LearnPath to help curate resources for the new LearnPath consortium being organised for NSW public schools. I am still trying to decide if I should recommend this program for my school and when I saw this advert and saw people replying and offering to help, my first thought was – but who are they? What are their qualifications? What is their experience? What bias will they have? And my overwhelming feeling was, I don’t trust them to find suitable resources for my school and my teachers.

The last thing I need is another under-utilised teacher resource. My decision is to survey teachers so that I can better understand what they are doing now to resource their programs. Then I will decide if they even need my intervention and what it would look like. Is it too big a job to do it ourselves? We could use Scootle – it’s still free and available.

Still so many questions, what ifs and maybes…