Digital Curation

No longer do we require librarians to curate information for us. With new digital technologies and programs available, anyone with access to the internet can become a Digital Curator. WIth a range of tools, digital curation allows anyone with a focused interest in specific topics to find and collect information to share with a targeted audience, as explained by Flintoff, Mellow and Pickett Clark (2014). DigCurv (2013) have produced a short clip into the importance of digital curation.

Digital Curation is becoming an excellent tool as users are able to ‘weed out’ and filter through information that is not needed, and allows the important information to be readily available for further and future use.

Shohat (2015) explains how there are sometimes common misconception when it comes to digital curation. Some individual believe that “the purpose of curation is to carve out a manageable selection from an unmanageable amount of content”. This is not the idea behind digital curation, rather it being able to source information in a manageable way that is high in quality and refined to an optimal creation of valuable information.

With digital curation becoming very popular with internet users, excellent programs have been established and available for anyone to use. Two of them being Scoopit and Pinterest. Scoopit is quickly becoming an indispensable learning tool, as explained by Johnson (2013). Scoopit allows users to curate online to an online magazine format. This format makes it very effect to students.

As teachers, we curate information is all different forms, as discussed by Howell (2014). We are no longer limited to a book or piece of paper, but images, online articles, audio files and videos. With large amounts of information come multiple messages in one piece of information. As effective teachers, critical evaluation of the reliable of information needs to be taken before we can curate information.

Collabor8now! (2014). Mastering Digital Content Curation [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.collabor8now.com/knowledge-management/mastering-digital-content-curation/

Flintoff, K., Mellow, P., Pickett Clark, K. (2014). Digital Curation: Opportunities for Learning, Teaching, Research and Professional Development. Retrieved from ctl.curtin.edu.au/events/conferences/t;f/tlf2014/refereed/flintoff.html?_ga=1.19699576.113068935.1441013579

DigCurV. (2013, May 23). What is Digital Curation [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cuOdgvyrgm

Shohot, A. (2015, September). Why Content Curation is Key to Sustainable Growth in Digital Music. Retrieved from http://hypebot.com/hypebot/2015/09/why-content-curation-is-key-to-sustainable-growth-in-the-digital-music-ari-shohot.html

Johnson, L. (2013, February 18). Why Scoopit is Becoming an Indispensible Tool. Retrieved from http://teachingthought.com/technology/why-scoopit-is-becoming-an-indispensable-learning-tool/

Howell, J. (2014, March, 25). Living and Learning in the Digital World Mod 02 02 Week 5. Retrieved from http://echo.ilecture.curtin.edu.au:8443/ess/echo/presentation/822c603c-a7da-4f41-8466-5103980d029e?_ga=1.260030410.113068935.1441013579

TopRank Blog (2014, May). How Content Curation and Tools can fit in Your Digital Marketing Mix [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.toprankblog.com/2014/05/content-curation-digital-marketing-mix/

Log on Teaching Resource: Pinterest

Name: Pinterest Board – the First Fleet Voyage

Weblink: http://www.pinterest.com/jodiewatt90/first-fleet-voyage/

Who should this digital teaching resource be used with?
The Pin Board created is designed to be taught to Grade 4 students.

How should it be used?
Individually. Students can use it to Pin information that is found on a class created Pinterest Board. This way the whole class has the information, if it is required.

Which subject or learning area would it be most appropriate to use in?
As mentioned already, this Board has been created for Grade 4 students. The subject/learning area is History, with the curriculum focus being on the stories of the First Fleet, including reasons for the journey, who travelled to Australia, and their experiences following arrival (http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/humanities-and-social-sciences/history/curriculum/f-10?layout=1#level4).

Identify the strengths of this teaching resource:
Pinterest, as a teaching tool, can be very effective in the classroom. Muthler (2015) explains that teachers of young students are using the online application to find lesson plans and stay organised, while middle and high school teachers are getting their students to use the app themselves for planning projects or collecting materials for class discussions. Pinterest allows students to add subject specific images that are needed in assignment or class discussion, find new books to read and recommend in regards to topic, gather resources for presentation, find educational videos, easy access bookmarks, create colleges and turn students into curators. Online magazine, Edudemic (n.d.) discusses how social media has affected the way assignments, resource papers, and examination prep is done, students should know how to use digital technologies constructively in such a way that it helps them complete the task in the best possible way.

Identify any weakness of this teaching resource:
Thought and caution needs to be taken with Pins as to there source and reliability. Rao (2012) examines the precautions that need to be taken in whether or not pins lead to real sources, and if Pins are captioned appropriately. Discussion is also held by Rao within group assignments and the evidence of ownership.

Explain any ideas you may have for further use of this teaching resource:
As mentioned already, Pinterest is an amazing tool. Lesson plans, creative tasks, research, organisation. The list of useful ways Pinterest can be uterlised within my future classroom. Pinterest is an extremely valuable resource that I plan to bring into my lessons.

Edudemic: Connecting Education and Technology. (n.d.). The Teacher’s Guide to Pinterest. Retrieved from http://www.edudemic.com/guests/the-teachers-guide-to-pinterest/

Mutler, S. (2015, June 15). Educator’s Guide to Pinterest. Edudemic: connecting education and technology. Retrieved from http://www.edudemic.com/the-teachers-guide-to-pinterest/

Rao, A. (2012, July 29). Making Pinterest in the Classroom a Reality: 6 Practical Points. Teachbytes. Retrieved from http://teachbytes.com/2012/07/29/pinterestintheclassroomareality/

The Digital Divide

As we know, under developed nations such as Ethiopia, Mongolia and Afghanistan have very little digital technologies. Philanthropic organisation, such as One Laptop Per Child, are working hard to provide both laptops and internet access to the children of these under developed nations. The TEDxTalks (2008) video give a greater insight into Nicholas Negroponte’s successful journey.

This organisation, like others, has been set up with the sole purpose of bridging the digital divide, but what is the digital divide?

It is the gap between people and regions that do and do not have access to modern technologies and communications. The divide can exist in many different situations; city and rural, educated and uneducated, different socioeconomic groups, and the more or less industrially developed nations (www.whatis.techtarget.com/definition/digital-divide).

Bentley (2014) explains how one in five Australians are not accessing the internet resulting from the affordability of broadband connections. So as teachers, the major question is, does this digital divide effect the educational needs of our students?

Fairlie (2008) notes that the process of educating students is shifting from text-based learning resources to web-based. With this emerging reliance on technology, it is highly likely that there are going to be issues with accessing this essential information at home. The digital divide can have lasting consequences on education, as mentioned by Solton (n.d.). Students that are from lower-income families could be at risk of having the inadequate access to technologies.

As Howell (2012) explains, “increasingly, parents, employers and the wider community expect the education system to produce technologically fluent students who can use a wide variety of digital technologies and who can adapt to emerging changes”. With projects in and area Australia, such as the NBN, the hope is that in the near future, affordable broadband can be accessed at home by all Australians.

TEDxTalks. (2008, June 27). One Laptop Per Child [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_TKjfgjiQs

Article Pk. (2015). Digital Divide Creates Gap Between Individuals [Image]. Retrieved from http://articles.pk/digital-divide.html

Silcon Beat (.n.d.). California’s Digital Divide is Closing but Still There [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.siliconbeat.com/2012/08/23/californias-digital-divide-closing-but-still-there/

Bentley, P. (2014, July 3). Lack of Affordable Broadband Creating Digital Divide. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-02/bridging-the-digital-divide/5566644

Fairlie, R. (2008, August 24). The Global Digital Divide and the Effects of Technology Use on Education Outcomes. Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/docs/eims/uploads/257344/Fairlie_presentation.pdf

Solton, L. (n.d.). Digital Divide: The Technology Gap Between the Rich and Poor [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.digitalresponsibilities.org/digital-divide-the-technology-gap-between-rich-and-poor/

Howell, J. (2012). Teaching with ICT: Digital Pedagogies for Collaboration and Creativity. Oxford University Press. South Melbourne, Australia.

Log on Teaching Resource: Popplet.

Name of Teaching Resource:
Popplet – The Solar System

Who should this digital teaching resource be used for?
The Popplet created has been designed to be taught to a Grade 5 class.

How should it be used?
The Popplet has been designed for the whole class. Students, along with their teachers can make a mind map using this program, of all the different points to remember.

What subject or learning area would it be most appropriate to use in?
As mentioned earlier, the Popplet was designed for Grade 5 students. Specifically, Grade 5 students who, in Science, are studying about how the Earth is a part of a solar system of planets orbiting around a star, the sun. (www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/science/curriculum/f-10?layout=1#cdcode=ACSSU078&level=5)

Identify the strengths of this teaching resource.
Popplet is both accessible via iPad and Web. With classrooms becoming full of digital native students, Popplet allows teachers and students to a mind-mapping program to help students capture thoughts, facts and image into one location and create relationships between them (http://popplet.com). As a teaching resource, Popplet is excellent as “it can facilitate a collaborative, iterative, and relational way of communicating information and may be used in ways of communicating information and may be used in almost any disciplinary context.” (Molfine, n.d.). Popplet is also a strong teaching resource in that it can be used in any grade.

Identify any weaknesses of this teaching resource.
The teacher is required to set up an account that enables students to jointly log in to create Popplets or set up a Popplet that students can log into so that information can be contributed sometimes complicating it (UR Flexible Learning, n.d.).

Explain any ideas you may have for further use of this teaching resource.
Popplet is an excellent program to uterlise at home, and at work. It can be used in may different contexts; which I plan to uterlise. Popplet will be used by myself throughout my studies as it can link all the different information and media to one area. On completion of my degree, Popplet will be used within my classroom as mind-mapping is an essential tool for students to develop.

Molfino, A. (n.d.). Popplet. [Web log Post]. Retrieved from www.educate.org/teaching_tools/popplet

U.R. Flexible Learning. (n.d.). Popplet. [Web log Post]. Retrieved from www.cceflexiblelearning.wordpress.com/digital-curation/popplet/

kqed Education. (2014). Popplet Logo [Image]. Retrieved from http://blogs.kqed.org/education/2014/02/21/how-to-make-a-popplet-a-collabative-mind-mapping-tool/

Digital Identity and Digital Security

Every person that accesses an email, applies for jobs online, uses online banking or is active on a social media websites creates a digital identity, which essentially, leaves a digital footprint. The video below by Jutt (2009) give a brief insight into our digital identities and the need to be digitally secure.

Some of us have digital identities that are hard to find, whereas some of us have these digital identities that are easy to find. This is due to the different levels of security taken when accessing information digitally.

But what really is a digital identity? An online article by Mavridi (2015) explains that the persona of an individual that is presented throughout the internet. As users of the internet, caution needs to be taken as digital identities can be perceived by materials that other users have released, not just the materials that other users have released (Williams, Fleming, Lundqvist and Parslow, 2010). In such a digitally advanced time, digital users need to become aware that their digital identity affects their reality. Howell (2014) discusses that individuals, very publicly, live their lives digitally. With a lot of social media sites not having many privacy settings, we need to be continuously mindful as to what you are sharing with the world. Digital identities leave a permeant mark, a lot like a fingerprint.

In such a digitally active age, internet users need to become familiar with the range of different technologies involved to assist users technology users to be overall safer online, which Howell (2014) describes as being known as Digital Fluency. Howell also describes how, as users, we need to have Digital Literacy, meaning users needs to mindful about the site they access. This is essential in keeping them safe from cyber attacks. Education is the key to staying digitally secure. The University of British Columbia have developed a website to help educate the public about digital security called ‘Digital Tattoo’ (http://www.digitaltattoo.ubc.ca) with the catching slogan of Think Before You Ink, the Digital Tattoo aims to help digital user to understand the risks associated with online use and how to prevent attacks.

Jutt, J. (2009, September 22). Digital Footprint Intro. [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.vimeo.com/6709512

Mavridi, S. (2015, September 26). Digital Identity: The Promises and Perils of Existing Online [Web log Post]. Retrived from http://www.sophiamavridi.com/?=1037

Williams, S.A., Fleming, S.C., Lundqvist, K.O, Parslow, P.N. (2010). Understanding your Digital Identity. Central Archive of the University of Reading. Retrieved from http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/17011/1/Williams_2010_Understanding_DI.pdf

Howell, J. (2014). Living and Learning in the Digital World Mod 01 Topic 02. [ilecture]. Retrieved from echo.ilecture.curtin.edu.au:8443/ess/echo/presentation/5d30e360-d6ea-b308-5b81b201dd82

Sitcore: Own the Experience. (2012). Digital Fingerprint [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.sitecore.net/learn/blogs/best-practice-blogs/lars-petersen/posts/2012/07/harvesting-low-hanging-fruit-web-personalization.aspx

Howell, J. (2014). Living and Learning in the Digital World Mod01 04 Topic03. [ilecture]. Retrieved from echo.ilecture/curtin.edu.au:8443/ess/echo/presentation/1636447f-aa10-42de-bec3-f6fe6f44932e