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Critical Self-Reflection Related to Curation and Social Media Participation
Sandra Payne
Athabasca University
MHST/NURS 601 - Critical Foundations in Health Disciplines
Dr. Francis Sheppard
November 29, 2021
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Content curation and social media are two concepts I did not associate with my Master’s
journey. In fact, I did not have a great deal of knowledge or experience in these areas. However,
over the last 13 weeks, I have come to understand how these two concepts are the foundation for
success as a Masters student. As I dug deep into the digital world of curation, I developed a
clearer understanding of their importance. Content curation sounds more complex than it really is
and I realized I was already doing it. I save things on Pinterest all the time and use my document
folder on my computer to save any work I have done. But this didn’t even scratch the surface of
digital content curation. I quickly discovered that I was behind the times and had a lot to learn. I
have come to realize that content curation is more than just collecting and storing information. It
is a means to support learning and highlight thinking. It involves collecting, categorizing,
critiquing, conceptualizing, and circulating materials (Deschanie & Sharma, 2015). The benefit
of this process is that one develops meaningful research skills and the ability to quickly and
critically evaluate various resources (Deschanie & Sharma, 2015). As a Masters student these
skills are paramount. The four social media platforms I learned to use to curate content are Diigo,
Mendeley, One Note and Wix.
Diigo is a bookmarking and annotation tool. It allows the user to highlight content and
add comments to a document. I used Diigo to annotate materials, bookmark content and organize
materials to assist with writing papers. I was able to add comments and sticky notes throughout
documents to highlight thoughts and important information. In the past, I would print everything
and highlight the articles and flip back and forth between papers. Using Diigo has allowed me to
have information at my fingertips and has sped up the writing process. I hope as I progress
through my Masters program I will become more efficient with this platform and learn how to
share resources with peers to assist with group work and discussions.
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Mendeley is a reference manager. This system helps collect references, organize
citations, and create bibliographies. Mendeley took longer to figure out. I had to take an
introductory course to learn how to navigate it. Once I understood the basics it was easy to
organize all my research and generate bibliographies. I found this extremely useful while
writing assignment number two. I was able to keep track of all my references in one space and
quickly access them as needed.
One Note is a note-taking tool. It provides a central hub for all my notes. It can record
audio, capture screenshots, and scan handwritten notes. I started using this application during this
course. It allowed me to keep notes and organize all my written work. I like that I can access it
from any device and share content with others.
Wix is a website builder that assists with creating an online presence. When tasked with
developing an e-portfolio I was at a loss. This is an area I knew nothing about and didn’t know
where to start. I spent a great deal of time learning how to build a website. I watched countless
videos and started over twice. Finally, after a couple of attempts, the webpage came together.
Developing the different pages was challenging but I am happy with the end product. I started
using Wix with lots of apprehension and have ended up really enjoying this part of the course
and assignment.
We live in a day and age where social media is the norm. Social media allows us to
connect and share, to express our opinions and provides us with a great source of entertainment.
But what is an appropriate social media presence for a nurse? This was the question that was
posed at the start of the course. At the time I viewed social media as a negative concept and my
answer was to “use with caution”. As I progressed through the course my views on using social
media for educational purposes changed. I developed a true understanding of how social media
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can be used to curate content, create a collaborative atmosphere and allow the learner to become
an active participant in learning (Abraham & Saini, 2015). Throughout this course, I was able to
use several social media tools (e.g Twitter, discussion posts, blogs) to share information with my
peers. By reading blogs and posts written by my peers, I developed a deeper understanding of the
course content. Questions and discussions posted in the forums often changed my approach to
researching information and responding to questions. Thus, using social media has had a
positive impact on my learning experience. I will still be mindful of the content I post, but have
become more open to using different platforms.
Overall, learning the art of content curation through the use of social media platforms has
broadened my ability to strategically collect information, evaluate a range of information
sources, arrange them and share them in a meaningful way. By using a variety of social media
platforms throughout the course, I have been able to interact with my peers and instructor, share
resources and increase knowledge transfer. Although in the beginning, I struggled with learning
how to use different platforms, in the end, I have built a solid set of skills that I can employ as I
progress along my Masters journey.
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References
Abraham, J. & Saini, C. (2015). Using Social Media for Educational Purposes: Approaches and
Challenges. Learning Technologies in Education, 484–489.
Deschaine, M. E., & Sharma, S. A. (2015). The Five Cs of Digital Curation: Supporting TwentyFirst-Century Teaching and Learning. InSight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching, 10, 1924. https://doi.org/10.46504/10201501deBlog