"Curation...whether intentional or not, can limit our perceptions of others and their own experiences. We can intentionally curate by the choices we make; we can unintentionally curate when the choices have already been made for us...Piaget’s theory of cognitive development states that humans build their knowledge through experience, and that these experiences lead to the creation of schemas (mind maps or models). We experience, when we are children, what we have no choice but to experience and be exposed to. As we get older and we have more control over our actions and interactions, we begin to curate with intention."
This module in Online Reading Comprehension challenged us to think about why students need to be able to effectively use the Internet at text at school and in their own personal lives, as well as how we as educators can scaffold students as they work, search and sift online. Curation is a large component of this. What we choose to curate, in school and out, is essentially a creation of our own filtering and sifting and searching online. Eli Pariser discusses the unintended consequences of filtering and curating; we don't see what we filter out. When we sift through material online, we often avoid the 'other' point of view and perspectives that could enhance our own experiences.
The lesson plan I put together on reading online about the Underground Railroad had one specific website to use from which students could navigate the embedded hyperlinks for more information. They will assume that because the website comes from me that it is true. Yes, I have vetted the sources, but have I over-curated for them? I do not explicitly tell them how I came to find this website and why I decided it was appropriate and reliable. Perhaps that should be part of my introduction to this lesson, and I should begin by asking them how I know that the nps.gov is legitimate and trustworthy. Modeling and scaffolding, which is what Julia Coiro speaks to in her 2003 piece: "Our role, in fostering literacy learning with technology, often becomes that of facilitator, expertly guiding readers to appropriate online texts while taking advantage of the scaffolded learning supports embedded in many electronic environments. Modeling how to use strategies flexibly to solve different comprehension tasks becomes even more important as technologies rapidly change and new forms of literacy emerge," (Coiro, p. 463).
Resources:
Coiro, Julie. "Exploring Literacy on the Internet: Reading Comprehension on the Internet: Expanding Our Understanding of Reading Comprehension to Encompass New Literacies." The Reading Teacher 56.5 (2003): 458-64. 2003. Web.
"Eli Pariser: Beware Online "filter Bubbles"" YouTube. YouTube, 2011. Web