I know that staff at my school have a great many digital resources that they have found over the years for teaching a wide range of topics, I have many myself. However, up until recently, my school did not have a collective depository to share this information. We now have a shared 365 drive for sharing resources but the folders remain largely empty and under-visited. Is it because, like so many other things, something that teachers just do not have time for? Ironically, collaborative collation could actually save teachers time. If we have a quality resource we should share it with others.
From a Teacher Librarians (TLs) point of view, I think digital curation is the natural evolution of what we already do. When a staff member comes to me and wants resources on insects for a stage 1 unit, it would be great if I could give them more than a dozen non-fiction books. If I had curated or co-curated this topic with other teachers and TLs then I could provide a wealth of digital resources such as articles, videos, images and possibly online interactives as well. This would in turn make teachers lives easier, the students learning experience richer and help me develop PLN connections.
The big question is, ‘How do I get staff to co-curate?’ I believe leading by example is the first step. Seeking information from staff about one specific topic, rather than asking for them to curate everything all at once and making time for it during existing meeting structures; e.g. ‘Please bring along a digital artifact for that could be used for teaching living things to the next staff meeting’. Over time different topics could be developed and then the resources available would grow. The secondary step would be for these resources to be evaluated and removed/replaced as needed so that the curated list stays relevant in much the same way that you weed a physical collection.