Assembly Line: Instructional Designers as Content Curators

In his bestseller on forecasting, The Signal and the Noise author Nate Silver likened our post-Internetinformation explosion to the events and epochs following the introduction ofGutenberg’s printing press. Besides democratizing literacy and triggeringcenturies of holy wars, the printing press enabled the same runawayproliferation of information we face today.

Then, as now, Silver writes, “The amount of information wasincreasing much more rapidly than our understanding of what to do with it, orour ability to differentiate the useful information from the mistruths.” Soundfamiliar?

How does this relate to training? If we design solutions andcreate the content ourselves, we control both quality and quantity, right? Increasingly—notso much. More and more, sources for all manner of content are available fordistillation and mash-up. As instructional designers and content developers,it’s no longer enough to just be a great writer to create great training … itrequires a bit of mad science to concoct the right learning solution.

Today’s students have a million ways to seek knowledge outsidethe confines of your training, from the internet to their digitally connectedpeers. This unchecked access to content is both blessing and curse. Yourlearners are drowning in the same ocean of information you are, leaving them distractible,unproductive, and vulnerable to misinformation.

Enter content curation, an oft-prescribed solution for this malady. And rightly so—beingable to gather and filter content is becoming as important an ID skill as creatingit.

Tips for content curation

Ironically, content curation itself is a perennially trendingtopic with many meta-levels: Plenty of curators share valuable bestpractices, and there’s no shortage of tools.But for now, let’s focus on content curation tips for training professionals, andsome pitfalls to avoid:

Diversify: Getbeyond the single-learning-event model. Instead of predictable, templated eLearningcourses, gather video demos, create practice activities, recommend articles forfurther learning, and attach spec sheets for performance support later.

Share the sharing. Studentsare curious and want to consult with their peers; encourage informationexchange through wikis, commenting features, and chat functions. Moderate ifnecessary or have an SME do it.

Remember qualitycontrol. You may not create all the content for the learners, but hold ontoyour standards. Avoid presenting information that’s amateurish, low inproduction value, or akin to shovelware.

Be cohesive. Even whencurating top-notch content, a lurking pitfall is the patchwork learningsolution. For example, be mindful of your client’s style guide and make surenone of your chosen materials violates those standards. Design the training’sscaffolding (such as navigation and graphics) to give learners a consistentexperience, even with a variety of content types.

Be authentic. Curationworks best when readers see the curator as a credible proxy for their owntastes and preferences. Engage learners with user-centered design, anduser-test to get insights into their behavior.

Explore the ExperienceAPI. Want to know what learners are reading outside your course? Look intoExperience API (xAPI). If you haven’t yet investigated the possibilities ofthis new specification, start here.By capturing a learning record store of your learners’ activities, xAPI providesinsight about what content learners find useful, which could shape yourcuration efforts.

Does letting go of content creation worry you? Relax.

These tips all apply to good training design, curated or not. Butif the idea of letting go of content creation makes you insecure about your ID role,breathe deep and realize:

• You’realready doing this. Curating content is similar to the task of processing alarge amount of source materials—you sift through and filter out the info that bestsupports the learning objective(s), so learners don’t have to. When youassemble the ingredients of your solution, who says you have to create all ofit?
• Yourlearners are already doing this. Even if you create what you consider to bethe only appropriate content, learners will likely find additional contentelsewhere.
• The morework you do, the less your learner has to. Just like anything else intraining design, it’s our job to help learners find the gems and discardunreliable or distracting information, helping them focus on what’s critical.

Remember, it’s not just aggregating and collecting; it’s youthinking through the design of your courses to unearth the juiciest and mostsalient materials for your audience. No matter who creates it (you or yourcurated authors), you’re still supporting the learning activities that correspondto the learning objectives. Nothing new, right?

What are your experiences with content curationas a training designer? Share them below!