Top 3 Resources to Discover and Curate Digital Curriculum for Teachers and Students | 21 st Century Educational Technology and Learning

Part One Digital Learning … Top 3 Resources to Discover and Curate Digital Curriculum for Teachers and Students | 21 st Century Educational Technology and Learning

As education begins to embrace technology and digital resources, we as educators must also remember that these new tools allow teachers to move students at the center of their learning. It is this concept that allows a real magic that will provide exciting transformation in the 21st Century of education. When I first started my teaching career close to 35 years ago the textbook was not only the curriculum, it was also the center of learning. I was able to curate by finding an occasional article, ordering a 16 mm film several weeks in advance, finding a filmstrip with its exciting beeps between slides, and an occasional field trip. Today, technology and the internet open up a vast array of resources. In fact, it is so big that teachers have had to become familiar with the art of curation. If anyone started bookmarking awesome resources a few years ago … they will probably find it a challenge today locating what they have saved in the past. Our file cabinets have gone beyond the classroom and are now part of the ever growing cloud. This series is really not centered on all the amazing resources available, but rather how to we find quality material and how do we archive it so we can find it later. I wish to explore some amazing tools and techniques you can use. Some of these tools you may know, but I hope to show you a few things about them you might not have discovered yet. I will also discuss how we might involve our students following proper procedure and providing necessary guidance. Even where there might be age and district policy restrictions, there are ways we can use some of these applications as productivity tools in our lessons. Most of all I hope to give you… the educator… some thoughts and ideas as you move each student to the center and surround them with an engaging and exciting world of information and learning possibilities. Let’s begin the journey! – Mike Gorman