Comments on: More on the Digital Curator

By: Jeff Cobb

Jeff Cobb — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:15:16 +0000

Crow – Thanks for commenting. I’ve written in praise of librarians many times and in many places. They are a tremendous resource. But why would we confine this kind of activity to librarians? – Jeff

By: Crow

Crow — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:05:03 +0000

Just out of curiosity, have any of you people ever heard of librarians? Who better to locate, organize, summarize and share content while teaching others how to use it, find it and create it themselves? Librarians are experts at organizing information AND teaching/instructing/assisting others — why reinvent the wheel?.

By: 5 Strategic Learning Trends to Watch in 2010 - Catch the Train

5 Strategic Learning Trends to Watch in 2010 - Catch the Train — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 11:44:27 +0000

[...] niches. Even with the help of incredibly powerful tools like Google. I first wrote about the Digital Curator nearly two years ago and it was hardly a new idea at the time. Its urgency as an issue has [...]

By: jtcobb

jtcobb — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:31:48 +0000

Michele- “I wonder if we shouldn’t basically be helping learners get better at instructional design for themselves?” I agree completely, though I suspect there will still be a need for people who are really good at understanding learning dynamics in a network and helping to “seed” productive learning environments. They may not facilitate in a traditional sense, but I think there is still room for some notion of exerting influence (though definitely not control) to help guide learners. Jeff

By: Michele Martin

Michele Martin — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:22:14 +0000

Great continuation of the discussion, Jeff, and I’m impressed that you can do this from the road!

I think your list of skills is a good one and frankly you’re describing what I’m aspiring to as my ideal skill set and work. One discomfort I have with the whole “instructional design” issue is that ultimately I feel like my role in supporting professional development should be something more like “learning facilitator” as opposed to someone who’s “designing instruction.” That doesn’t feel very learner-centric to me.

In my ideal world we’re helping people to discover for themselves the structures and tools of learning that work best for them and facilitating their development as self-directed learners who could do many (if not most) of these things themselves.

It’s not that I don’t see a place for instructional design as much as I wonder if we shouldn’t basically be helping learners get better at instructional design for themselves? It’s reminding me of a conversation going on right now on the TRDEV list where Elliot Maisie has invited learners to re-design a training they’ve just been through as their way of evaluating the course. The question becomes is this doing away with the role of the instructional designer? Is this going to be another version of crowd-sourcing?

I’m not sure, but I know this is a very interesting discussion. Thanks for keeping it going!