Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Hot Neoliberal Commodities Or Tools For Empowerment? A Badges Case Study And Conversation, Emily Ford, Jost Lottes, Betty Izumi, Dawn Richardson

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

In Fall term of 2014, three instructors of Portland State University’s School of Community Health, in collaboration with the school’s subject librarian, deployed digital badges to certify information literacy and critical thinking outcomes in their classes. The badge curriculum, which was developed by mapping library learning outcomes to course learning outcomes, was designed to teach and assess students’ understanding of and skills acquisition in website evaluation, information formats, database searching, citing and plagiarism, and contributing knowledge to the information landscape. Badges were issued using Credly, and before and after the term, students were asked to provide feedback about their learning …

To Badge Or Not To Badge? From “Yes” To “Never Again”, Emily Ford

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

This opinion essay does not present badging best practices or a discussion of badging procedures. Rather, it presents my personal, theoretical views as to why I will not use badges again. Reflecting over the past three years, I have realized that our use of badges re-created and reinforced traditional powers structures in the classroom. I now view badges as a symptom of a systemic and insidious problem in higher education: neoliberalism.

Badge It! Using Digital Badges To Certify Information Literacy Skills Within Disciplinary Curriculum, Emily Ford, Betty T. Izumi, Jost Lottes, Dawn Richardson

Library Instruction West 2014

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to discuss the collaborative learning outcomes-based approach taken by a librarian and disciplinary faculty members to improve information literacy (IL) curriculum within disciplinary courses. To this end, the team aimed to award badges to certify IL skills.

Design/methodology/approach – This article considers relevant literature on competency-based curriculum, technological innovation in higher education, collaboration between library and disciplinary faculty and badges. This literature is used to frame the approach to plan a successful and sustainable project to embed IL in disciplinary curriculum using digital badges. The approach includes mapping learning outcomes and engaging …

Badge It! Using Digital Badges To Certify Information Literacy Skills Within Disciplinary Curriculum, Emily Ford, Jost Lottes, Betty T. Izumi, Dawn Richardson

Library Instruction West 2014

As technology in higher education rapidly changes, new pedagogical tools are being tested, developed, and implemented. Digital badges systems are one such tool that can be used to certify student skills and competencies, including information literacy skills. Despite new teaching technologies and pedagogical approaches, it remains difficult for instruction librarians to lead experimentation. As a result, librarians depend on collaborative relationships with disciplinary faculty to experiment with pedagogies and tools like badging. At Portland State University, however, librarians are leading a collaborative digital badges project with Community Health Faculty to develop, deliver, assess, and track student achievements in information literacy. …

Still Relevant After All These Years, Eleanor Mitchell, Sarah Barbara Watstein

Library Instruction West 2014

A brief editorial that provides background and introductions to the collection of papers that comprise this special issue of Reference Services Review.

Giving Games The Old College Try, Amy R. Hofer

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

Based on evidence that games might help students get more engaged in my online class, I decided to overcome my skepticism and road-test two information literacy games. First I tried BiblioBouts, which uses the online citation management tool Zotero to integrate gaming into a research paper assignment that is already part of the course syllabus. Students have to set up Zotero accounts and log into the game’s online platform to play and see their scoreboard; the technology requirements were too much for my class and the experiment didn’t feel successful. The following year I tried a comparatively low-tech game that …