Curating Digital Museums

To view the photo-rich magazine version, click here.

Originally appears in the Summer 2020 issue.

By Tim Thomas and Malia Rivera

One clear takeaway from our recent experiences with social distancing and schools is that an infusion of digital technology will remain embedded in our instruction going forward. As another assessment tool to add to your educator’s toolbox for any age group, consider inviting learners to design and assemble a digital museum that expresses and extends their thinking about class content. Curation activities elevate learners’ thinking, and an assessment tool that combines digital technology and curation can provide an exciting starting point for your classroom learning community. Through the careful guidance of educators at school, learners will also carry away crucial lessons about locating credible and reliable web resources to support their design of digital museums.

Without even realizing, many learners already carry in their pockets evidence of their personal curating. They curate preferences and viewpoints in their digital world with newsfeeds, playlists, and the influencers whom they follow online. With an educator’s guidance, learners can use digital technology to create a portable, easily-displayed digital museum that can hold multiple artifacts which express the way they are processing topics introduced in class. Using digital devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops, learners will have the means to design their own digital museums.