How to make smarter learning content from curated resources

Want to work smarter? Have you thought about repurposing existing content?

Here’s an example of how I used curated resources to deliver a large learning project on time and budget.

Curated resources for customer service skills

A while ago, I worked on a customer service project. At first glance this project looked like a mammoth task. A huge amount of content was needed to teach a variety of people skills, such as, empathy.

Not only was there a huge amount of skills to focus on. The learning needed to be relevant for different job roles.

By using content curation, I made this project both smaller and more work efficient. The most critical factor was reducing the creation of “new” resources. Instead I used existing resources in smart ways.

But our training needs are specific to us

You may balk and think you can’t do this as your [insert training needs] are specific. You need your own tailored content! And you’re right. I agree. Your needs are specific. Your learning does need to be targeted. It needs to have context. And be meaningful to your people.

But, you can provide context without having to create everything from scratch. Do this through the activities and questions that surround the curated resources. This way you use existing resources and create context at the same time.

Example of using curated learning resources

I curated learning resources and created self-selected activities around the skill of empathy.

First I started by showing the ‘why’ this is relevant

• Poll activity:
  ‘How important is empathy for providing customer service?’
  The audience then selected the most appropriate answer, from extremely to not at all.
• Poll results:
  Showed the percentage of people who had selected each option.

Here the business context was provided through a simple poll question. There was no need to create something to justify the importance of empathy.

How to be empathetic?

There was no expert on empathy within the organization I was working in. So my next natural step was to find one. Who is an expert on empathy? And what resources do they have that I can share?

This is how I found Brené Brown, long before she became as famous as she is today. Here’s her video on empathy:

With each curated resource I followed up with some questions to build context and application. Here’s an example based on the empathy video above:

• What are your strengths and weaknesses with empathy?
• Do others think you have the same empathy strengths and weaknesses as you do? Ask your family or friends. What did you find out?
• Imagine you’re speaking with a distressed customer today. What action could you apply from the video now?

There are a multitude of activities that could be designed around curated resources. You’re only limited by your imagination.

Think reflective learning, social learning, problem solving, and learner-sourced content. Remember to give the opportunity for staggered practice, feedback, and mastery.

It’s more time efficient to spend the majority of your time on finding quality resources rather than creating them. How long would’ve it taken you to make an animated video about empathy? Would it have left you with enough time to build practice activities?

Have you used curated resources for learning? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments. We learn more together!

If you found this blog useful, you might also find this Content Curation in Learning Design blog helpful.

Want to talk more? Or want help with your learning or content strategies? Reach out to me on LinkedIn.