Ten great content curation tools for learning
As learners increasingly take control of their own learning via internet searches and apps, how can we be sure they’re accessing the correct content?
Here are 10 of the best learning curation tools that can channel your employees towards the most relevant knowledge.
Scoop.it
What is it? An easy-to-use content curation platform that’s used a lot within the learning community. You can put in your key words and fine tune with filters. You can also add your own trusted content sources. It can be embedded in your intranet without coding.
Good for: Finding relevant knowledge and sharing it with individuals or entire teams by sending emails to their inbox or via devices; publishing content to colleagues with one click; collaborative working. Highly recommended.
What is it? A free service that discovers content that’s personalised to your interests and enables you to ‘save it’ until later. Content is kept in one place and can be shared. It can be used in browsers and on devices.
Good for: Receiving new content that’s relevant that you might miss, thanks to the personalisation. The more you use Pocket, the more relevant the recommendations in your feed will be. An excellent tool for this reason.
Symbaloo
What is it? A personal startpage that allows you to navigate the web and compile your favourite sites all into one visual interface. With an account, you can save your bookmarks in the cloud and access them from anywhere with any device.
Use it for: Managing your weblinks in an easy-to-find way. By default, your Symbaloo ‘webmix’ is private and secured in the cloud, but you have the option of sharing your resources with others so it's good for collaborative working.
List.ly
What is it? A user-generated curation site where the content is in the form of lists. Enables you to create and share lists on List.ly and on your website.
Use it for: Finding and sharing top tips across your team and creating your own lists that colleagues can add to. Our search for ‘digital learning’ threw up 183 results. If you love lists, you’ll love List.ly!
Juxtapost
What is it? A fast, free and simple way to bookmark images that you see on the web, for use later.
Use it for: The postboard collaboration tool enables sharing of online content among selected people or entire teams. Also very helpful when creating mood boards for learning.
Learnist
What is it? App-based curated learning where you can create boards of articles, images, video, and other media. Primarily for self-directed learners, it allows you to find relevant content that you can compile on your own board.
Use it for: Tapping into experts’ knowledge; collaborating; sharing.
Diigo
What is it? Pronounced Dee'go (an abbreviation for Digest of Internet Information, Groups and Other stuff), it is a social bookmarking website. By installing an extension to your browser, you can bookmark and tag web pages. Users can also can highlight specific content, just like a highlighter pen, and attach ‘sticky notes’.
Use it for: Storing specific pieces of content. Sharing and collaborating.
What is it? A content aggregation app that’s also available for desktop computers. Users can save and organise website content across a range of subjects to their Flipboard ‘home page’. It’s essentially your own curated, personalised content for you to save and share.
Use it for: Bringing together all the content you want, from trusted sources, to keep and share with others in a magazine format.
What is it? Content ‘pinned’ by registered users either in individual pins or on ‘boards’ of topics. Users are able to pin (ie save) content on Pinterest and create their own boards. Users can search for pins, boards and people. Try searching for ‘workplace learning’ or specific experts.
Use it for: Discovering the best online content; pulling it together and sharing it via pins or topic boards.
Feedly
What is it? Available on PCs, apps and as a cloud-based service, it compiles online news feeds that the user can customise and share with others. It has a business content application that provides secure access to private content from your company's internal portals, content management systems, and SaaS applications.
Use it for: Discovering what thought leaders and teammates read; working with your teammates to curate, comment, and prioritise the best stories about specific topics and ideas; empowering your teams with stories as they happen; engaging and sparking discussions.
Essentially, content curation sites and apps enable your learners to head straight to the content that matters. Like this page? Then why not share it with your colleagues and others. There are plenty of tools out there to help you!