'Curation' as a new direction in digital literacy theory

This paper theorises the practices of curricular assignment writing. I approach the writing of assignments as an assemblage of digital literacies, emerging as learners use whatever tools - digital and otherwise - are to hand. Building on recent work in literacy studies, and using a sociomaterial approach, I theorise learners' complex digital literacy practices emerging through their assignment writing. Importantly, some practices are in contrast to the digital demands imposed by normative classroom culture and policies, and others are related to how learners manage multitudes of resources, online and offline. I subsequently advance new directions in digital literacy theory as drawn from the data. One such idea is 'curation' as a digital literacy practice. I argue that understanding curation as a digital literacy practice adds value to current debates in digital literacy and educational technology, especially as researchers apply a more critical and fine-grained lens towards practices with educational technology.