Anyone who has spent more than five minutes online knows that there is so much content out there. If you’re trying to search for information on a topic (let’s say, how to edit a video), it can be hard to separate the wheat from the chaff and figure out which articles, websites, guides and resources are valuable and which are outdated, confusing or incomplete.
That’s where content curation comes in. Content curation, put simply, is when a subject matter expert pulls together a list of content that they believe others will find useful or interesting. It also allows for the fact that this subject matter expert can add their own “voice” to the curated list, including opinions, additions and their own unique insights.
How content curation benefits employees…
Content curation is invaluable for your employees. Subject matter experts don’t always have the time to share their wisdom with their colleagues, so allowing them to build their own list of content which is then made available to others ensures that their knowledge isn’t “stuck” with them.
Once the curated playlist is available, colleagues can then access it at any time to work through the resources, whether that’s e-learning modules, videos, PDFs, articles, ebooks or anything else. This ensures that the subject matter expert isn’t bombarded with requests, and makes valuable learning more accessible to others in the organization. And, because the list has been curated by an expert, everyone else can be sure that the recommended resources will be useful and accurate.
… and the curator themselves
Content curation is just as beneficial for the curator themselves! It helps them think carefully and critically about what they have found useful, and can encourage them to conduct more research into their area of expertise to identify even more valuable content.
They can also continue updating their curated content lists over time. This gives them an easy-access list of everything they find valuable, and they can remove or add resources and comments as things change in real time. Being viewed as an expert in their subject area can also be hugely beneficial in terms of their professional development; especially if this is formally recognized in the form of an Open Badge or with further development opportunities.
How to curate content
Tools like Totara Engage, a learning experience platform (LXP), enable employees to create their own curated playlists of resources.
This user-friendly approach works by allowing users to put together lists of resources they find useful, interesting and valuable on a topic of their choice. For instance, a salesperson with a great approach to pitching can create a curated list of resources they have used to improve their skills, such as YouTube videos, blog posts, checklists and e-learning modules. They can add comments to each resource to personalize the experience further (e.g. “Skip to 11:20 in this video for a really useful demonstration”), and share this playlist with their colleagues to help them improve their own skills.
Another option is to use a plugin such as Anders Pink, which is compatible with the Totara platform. This automates the content curation process by allowing an admin or manager to set up a filter to find content on specific topics from approved sources (such as trusted news or industry websites).
How to ensure it makes an impact
When you’re encouraging content curation in your organization, it’s vital that it is part of a wider employee engagement initiative. As a standalone activity, content curation can add value to your employee engagement efforts, but it’s when it’s combined with other activities, such as supporting collaborative working and taking employee surveys, that’s when it becomes really powerful.
Totara Engage supports a wide variety of employee engagement initiatives to help you tap into what makes your learners tick, facilitate knowledge sharing and get people excited about work. Absolutely everyone can participate in content curation, giving everyone a voice and ensuring all of your employees benefit from the expertise of their peers.
