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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Purdue University

Series

2018

Patents

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Inspiring Innovation With Patent Information Literacy In The Engineering Technology Curriculum, Dave Zwicky, Margaret Phillips Jun 2018

Inspiring Innovation With Patent Information Literacy In The Engineering Technology Curriculum, Dave Zwicky, Margaret Phillips

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Patents have wide appeal to students, faculty, and employers and can be a potent tool for integrating information literacy (IL) into engineering and technology curricula. There is evidence to show that students use patents to assess the patentability of their design ideas, explore the state of the art in a given area of technology, and to inspire creativity in their work. Faculty use patents and other complementary forms of gray literature to go beyond the traditional IL world of scholarly literature and engage students with information problems that reflect real-world design challenges. Working with patents allows students to develop strategic, …


Information Literacy In Engineering Technology Education: A Case Study, Margaret Phillips, Dave Zwicky Jan 2018

Information Literacy In Engineering Technology Education: A Case Study, Margaret Phillips, Dave Zwicky

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Information literacy is a vital component of engineering and engineering technology programs, as evidenced by its alignment with the engineering design process, and as required by ABET, the body that accredits all engineering and many engineering technology undergraduate programs. However, information literacy in engineering technology and applied engineering curricula is understudied when compared with information literacy in engineering programs. This paper describes a case study of information literacy integration into an undergraduate mechanical engineering technology design course, with a focus on patent information and patent searching. Online pre- and post-assessment data for four semesters were analyzed, showing improvements in student …