How To Effectively Use Content Curation For Learning

Better learning experiences built for your employees

With so much information and training resources available, how do you choose what’s actually best for your employees' continued development? Content curation for learning at work tackles this problem head-on. Here’s how to use content curation for learning to more effectively train your employees, from a variety of sources.

What is content curation for learning and eLearning?

Content curation for learning is the deliberate process of selecting relevant, useful, expert, and effective resources for delivering training and information from beyond the manual. This information can be pulled from pre-built and crowd-sourced libraries of content built by your peers or placed into context by subject matter experts. It can be rolled out in individual courses or turned into a library of just-in-time learning resources.

Such context also helps to emphasize the importance of the information for employees. While there are some universal topics that everyone should know (i.e., safety topics and diversity training), content curation for learning replaces an overload of extra information with just what employees need. Think of the difference between a 300-page binder of handouts and a AR-focused video tutorial. One contains excessive information that is unnecessary, while the other is practical and gets employees exactly what they need when they need it.

Content curation for learning falls in line with other innovative eLearning trends of 2021 and reaches well beyond. Instead of building information without purpose, it's about creating a learning experience that matches the learner.

The basics of content curation best practices

There are three main forms of curating information, including:

1. Evergreen resources
2. Streaming content like YouTube
3. Pre-built learning experiences

Some of these don't fit into our ordinary ideas of employee training, and that's okay. Content curation for eLearning sits employee needs at the center of the equation.

Evergreen resources

Think of evergreen resources as a library of resources that changes infrequently. This might be a hub that includes company policies on safety, diversity, and procedures.

It could also include relevant systems and processes for specific occurrences (e.g., how the admissions process works in a hospital, or the way to report an issue on a jobsite). These may be resources built by the L&D team or collaborated on by whole departments.

Streaming content

Streaming content changes and updates frequently. It's an easy way to support on-demand learning or to keep up with a changing industry.

Think of things like YouTube videos, sent over social media or through your company’s Slack channel, to inform employees about a new regulation or highlighting research or new advances in your industry.

Pre-built learning experiences

Finally, pre-built learning experiences can include both evergreen resources and streaming content. These can be scheduled or placed in topic-based portals that employees can access and use as needed.

They can be created by people within your organization or crowd-sourced from larger industry associations, learning platforms, or technology organizations.

See eLearning content curation in action

Our PinPoint Learning tool allows you to curate content for learning and share it instantly to all of your employees.

It gives you the ability to integrate curated learning “playlists” into microlearning experiences either from PinPoint’s pre-built Performance Support library or the PinPoint Content Community from other peers who have made their courses sharable. Finally, you can also develop your own custom-made courses in the Content Toolbox.

With easy YouTube integration and space for PDFs, documents, and other eLearning materials, PinPoint’s mobile app is the perfect tool for content curation for learning.

Content curation strategies for corporate learning

Ready to get started with content curation for learning? Don’t just head to Google, type in the search bar, and hit enter. Save yourself time and effort with these content curation strategies for corporate learning.

1. Identify your needs

Don’t waste precious time on resources that aren’t suitable for your employees' needs. What types of topics and employees do you need to curate content for? Soft skills? Hard skills? Safety or process-oriented information? Long-term employee and leadership development?

Deciding exactly what content you need will save time, effort, and money by focusing your team before they begin their search for resources.

2. Be deliberate

Lots of information doesn’t always mean lots of high-quality information. Take the resources you have gathered and evaluate them for your needs. You can source from learning communities like the one on PinPoint, YouTube, or other information hubs.

If the information is specialized, bring in subject matter experts (SMEs) to ensure the accuracy of the information. Select only reputable thought leaders and writers in your industry.

3. Design appropriate learning context

Now it’s time to design the appropriate platform to deliver these new resources. Consider the best context for the content as you design your learning experience.

Focus on how an employee will be asked to implement their learning as a way to choose which works best. For example, if an employee needs to make decisions based on rapidly changing scenarios, consider simulations or microlearning options for troubleshooting.

4. Review your content, and pivot as needed

The best content curation for learning uses current sources and up-to-date research and information. This is especially important in industries with frequent advances and changes to best practices (e.g., tech industries and healthcare).

Schedule regular reviews of content with an eye to finding the best resources you can.

Learn more

At EdgePoint Learning, we help our clients transition from long, dense courses to a collection of just-in-time training resources, YouTube tutorials, microlearning, and more. Our PinPoint platform helps your employees learn in the flow of work, making training instantly engaging and more effective.

How can we help your team? Get in touch today!