Curation Projects

Curation projects are a great way for students to learn the first steps in collecting resources for a research project or literature review.  They can provide a great visual representation of the collected resources and can allow easy access to project materials.  For projects that require a limited number of sources, Elink is a great platform for collecting and accessing these resources.  I used this platform in a 300 level course recently.  I have assigned a research project that is due at the end of the semester and on the day I assigned the project, I realized that many of my students had no idea where to start.  So, I broke the assignment down into steps – the first of which was to gather resources.  To do this, I had students set up an Elink page where they could easily gather resources that I could then easily review to help students determine which sources to use and how to use them.

My Project

For my curation project, I chose to put together a board of links to articles about barriers to graduation that college students struggle to overcome.  I chose this project because it is relevant to my area of research and gave me the opportunity to put together a compilation of recent articles.  Additionally, I think it can be adapted for use in our first year transition course.  One of our first assignments involves students investigating barriers to college completion, identification of resources on campus that help students get past those barriers, and recommended plans for students who may be struggling  with said barrier.  This is a group project.  Elink could be a great tool for the groups to use to compile their articles as they research their assigned barrier.