In this article we discuss the ways students currently engage with, and navigate through, their learning resources. Working from the argument that students now read and research in ways that privilege assembly, visualisation and interconnection, we propose that questions of student engagement can be opened up profitably by concentrating on a particular trope of learning and assembly. That trope is ‘curation’ and we explore how this approach and activity might be used to enhance student learning, creativity and ownership. In our discussion we explore particular theories of curation, ‘bricolage’ and collaborative assembly, and explain ways in which these are directly relevant to today’s patterns and habits of student scholarship. After offering case-studies of curation pedagogy at the scales of module, programme, project and institution, we conclude by visualising and explaining our ‘curation learning cycle’. In this way, we tie theory, case-studies and taxonomy together to propose a curriculum design approach that heightens student learning and engagement