Thing 6: Curation Tools

Prior to this activity I'd already become familiar with Flipbooks and Pinterest. I wanted to use this opportunity to challenge myself to explore curation tools that I hadn't heard of and as usual my curiosity got me clicking away and one link led to another and I became immersed in reading about everything from Twitter to educational iPad apps to great Math Resources and on and on. I have to say that this didn't happen when I clicked on LessonPaths and BlendSpace; neither of these tools held my attention or presented a format that made me want to investigate further. Where I got lost in exploration and reading was when I clicked on Learnist. Let's just say that I want to get my post done so I can get back to wandering through all that Learnist has to offer. The category tabs you see at the top when Learnist opens drew me right in and got me using the site. I also liked the format used once you select a category. The layout is very simple and clean; the content is organized into rows of 4 visuals across that include a brief description. You get a quick snapshot and can decide if you want to click on it or continue scrolling through. I didn't count, but there were rows upon rows of options to explore. The presentation keeps you from feeling overwhelmed, but it's clear that there is a breadth and depth to what you can find so deciding how much you want to tackle in one sitting is the challenge. I'm excited about Learnist because from the little I've seen already I can tell that I am about to connect with resources and information that will help me better support the teachers in my buildings. Right now I'm not at all sure how or if I'd use Learnist with students, but I'll be thinking about that as I explore it more. It's more obvious to me right now how I would use Flipbooks and Pinterest, but even those would need to be with older students [5th/6th grade and above]. This particular activity really has me thinking about how much more we need to do to connect teachers with their building librarians! We really need teachers to view the school librarian as an invaluable resource in their quest to integrate technology and online resources into their classroom activities.