My Top 3 Curation Tools

To be an effective learner today, you need to know how to curate resources.  There is a tremendous amount of information out there and if you do not curate your resources, selecting those that are relevant and useful, you will be overwhelmed by what you find.  There are a lot of curation tools out there that allow you to do this easily, but there are three that I find myself using more than others, but for different purposes.

Flipboard to share with others

• Flipboard is my curation tool of choice when I want to curate general resources to share with others.  I have multiple magazines that each have their own topic, as well as other magazines which are focused on resources from various conferences I attend.  Flipboard looks the best of the three I use and has dedicated web and mobile apps.  As with all of my curation tools, make sure you install the Chrome extension so you can easily add to your collection.  Flipboard also can be used with others as co-curators so this can be a collaborative effort.

Pocket to share with myself

• Pocket is my app of choice when I am curating just for myself.  This is usually related to specific information I am looking for based on my current needs.  I quickly add to my Pocket resources and then go back to them later on my phone or tablet.  Again, the Chrome extension makes this easy to curate and the app makes it easy to get back to it.  It does not have the same looks as Flipboard and does lack the collaboration aspect which is easy to get with others.  It works great though when I am focused on curating a specific set of info.

Padlet to share during presentations

• Whenever I am giving a presentation or working with teachers from another school, I make a Padlet wall to curate resources related to our topics.  I also make it so they can add their own resources to share with others.  This is a benefit to Padlet as you can easily make it so people can add to a Padlet without them being able to remove or edit other entries.  You can easily link to the Padlet or embed it on a Google Site.  Installing the Chrome extension should be the first thing you do.  Padlet looks great and can automatically sort into a grid pattern based on the entries.  

It doesn't matter what tools you use as long as you are organized and can curate resources instead of just collecting them or forgetting them.  You don't have to use different tools for the different purposes but I have found it helps me to better organize what the purpose of that resource is before I curate it.  If you are sharing your curations with others, make sure you look to those that are easy to share and look pleasing to others.  

You can watch the video below to see my three curation tools in action and search my sites for other resources related to these tools.