Our in-class inquiry into developing world libraries was inspiring. In thinking about the digital possibilities of library collections and curation, I started to think about the possibilities for online student created and curated collections. For example, as a way to share and collect resources, students could vet, compile, and organize sources on any given topic for a class project. Everyone could connect through a blog, wiki, etc. and each and every student would benefit from the mini collection dedicated to the class inquiry topic. Students could even do this as a part of an individual inquiry project if everyone’s inquiry topic was connected to a particular era, historical event, author, novel, etc. Students could also create their own individual collections tied to their personal inquiry topics. The teacher or teacher-librarian could help moderate, vet, and effectively organize class collections or offer help to students in creating their personal collection.
Digital libraries are the wave of the future, and to get students involved in the creation and use of this incredible resource would be an incredible way to catch that wave. Not only would it connect students to the incredible amounts of information that are available to them online, but it could be used to help students develop new literacies, an awareness of digital citizenship, copyright, and accountability. Students would be made responsible for properly vetting and citing any resources they choose to use. Think how many teachable moments, of the moment or teacher designed, could occur as a result of such a project. I am so excited by the possibilities.
Students would also be contributing to the world library by creating such a mini collection. When other students from around the world type in their search for information on the same topic, they could very well alight upon this type of collection, student appropriate, vetted, curated materials. This would make a fantastic educational website – an online library created by and for students. I would also be intrigued to see if there is a way to link such websites to the district’s library, so that students could access these collections through their search of the district library catalogue. There are some incredible possibilities here. I’m really looking forward to trying some of these ideas out for myself!
Hi Christine,
When I looked at your summative post I could put a face to your work. Yeah!!! I love your idea on creating student collections. If students were to put these collections in a blog would they just be putting the urls on the page? Do you see this as a better alternative to using Diigo?
I agree with you about bringing awareness to students before they create their own collections. When I did the Diigo project with the Spanish class. I did talk about websites and accuracy of information and legitimate/bogus sites. Can you imagine, most students believed the site I had them examine on the “tree octopus” was real.
Sharing student collections is such a fantastic idea. We should try it between schools. Too bad I teach ESL and I can’t think of an English person at our school that would take on some collaboration with a teacher at another school. I just love young enthusiastic teachers.
I think you are developing a vision for the future of education, and, from where I stand, it is a very different system for learning than the one we currently have. This does not mean teachers are not going to be more important than ever, it means teachers are going to have to figure out how they are going to be important in this learning process. It seems obvious to me, as any learning process needs a guide, a facilitator, someone who can help and support the learning journey.