Being a Curator
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A superintendent once stood in front of their board of directors to present achievement data for the year. They shared all kinds of graphs and charts. They shared percentages and numbers. They shared growth and stagnation. They shared goals and outcomes.
A different superintendent stood in front of their board to present achievement data for the year. Except they told the story of three different learners. They highlighted how data and evidence were used to select programming to support those learners. They highlighted how each learner represented both a celebration and a unique challenge for the district moving forward. They presented numbers but through the context of unique individual learners.
School and district leaders are often asked to present achievement data to boards and the public. As objectors, we might question the value of this data, or whether it represents learning or the learner we envision. As inventors, we might design systems that help our community to more deeply and resonantly establish learning experiences that align with those beliefs. Imagine that instead of standing in front of a board sharing data and what it says about our learners, we could instead tell a story about learning and our learners…a story that leverages powerful evidence and data.
In a human-centered learning environment, curators collect human-centered evidence on the effectiveness of their designs. They value this feedback. They actively seek it out and crave greater impact on the people they are serving. They want to leverage their unique insider perspective as a practitioner to answer those objector-driven questions for which they’ve collaboratively designed solutions. The evidence they gather will help to shape a narrative, a story, using both qualitative and quantitative data. Human-centered curators value stories as much as others value numbers, and they challenge the underlying assumptions of both.
When we are curators in a human-centered paradigm, we are willing to question the kinds of data we value the most and how we use that information in our daily work. We recognize the humanity behind those numbers as well as the potential for humanity to be lost if we misuse that data. In this way, we seek to find the story behind the numbers as well as tell the stories the numbers alone cannot. Curators “collect” the evidence in a variety of ways that allow for better and deeper connections with others through one on one conversations, artifacts, surveys, focus groups, and connecting with other experts and peers in our field.
As curators in a human-centered paradigm, we are not afraid of the wisdom and expertise that comes with our valuable insider perspective. We are humbled in our willingness to challenge our own assumptions and think again while also relying heavily on the knowledge and experiences we have gained. We leverage this perspective by seeking connection with other experts who can validate, challenge, and grow what we believe to be true. And in connecting with others, this insider, practitioner-based perspective transfers into collective expertise.
Human-centered curators recognize that the power of the stories we wish to tell must first be grounded in human-centered curation and filtered through lenses that see each learner and their story as unique, valuable, and worthy of sharing.
