KSP684 - Badge It! - Ford, Izumi, Lottes, & Richardson

Collaborative learning outcomes based approach to integrating information literacy badges with disciplinary curriculum.

Discussion of approach taken by librarian and disciplinary faculty members to improve information literacy (IL) within disciplinary courses.

• Higher education
• Competency-based
• Technological innovation
• Embed IL into disciplinary curriculum
• Mapping learning outcomes
• Instructional design tasks - planning for content delivery and assessment

Findings:

• An approach to technological innovation for instructional projects based on the principles of pedagogical design can result in improvements to IL pedagogy and collaboration between librarians and disciplinary faculty, whether or not a technological implementation is successful.

Practical Implications:

• Pedagogical and learning outcomes-based approach to embedded IL can be used.

Badges were awarded to certify IL skills.

Article:

Higher ed is at crossroads - people are wondering if it is worth the debt.  What is the value?

What does a bachelor's degree qualify you to do? What did the student learn?

Grades and course list does not sufficiently capture what knowledge, skills, and abilities a student has gained.

Competency-based curriculum is a result of above questions/concerns.

Educational-accrediting bodies have modified requirements to include particular competencies. (so have social and health sciences)

Encourages self-reflection and self-assessment.

Three main criticisms to competency-based education:

• Disempowers students
• Shift away from education’s central ethical and democratic role to prepare students to engage in democratic society
• Represents the neoliberalization of higher education - knowledge becomes tangible.  Education is being commercialized.

Competency-based learning does not allow students to gain esoteric knowledge or critical theoretical knowledge.

Badges:

• Map outcomes - decide on “core” skills - what is most important for them to learn
• They ended with 6 badges:
• Web Ninja (for Web site evaluation skills)
• Source Sleuth (for understanding information formats and audiences)
• Silver Pen (for contributing to the information landscape and providing peer commentary)
• Keyword Hacker (for learning search techniques)
• Recorder (for citation and source documentation).
• Master Information Analyzer: certifies the culmination of students’ work throughout the course
• Decide what skills each badge representation
• Create assessments for each badge
• In cases of work resulting in a culminating project - assessments can be “standalone” for each badge

Lessons learned:

• Don’t underestimate how long it takes to create curriculum, assessments, and badging system
• Aligning with all the various standards and objectives is not easy (CCSS, NGST, MN Standards, etc.)
• Some learning outcomes are very broad and can’t be narrowed down to one assessment.
• Evaluation of a badging project should take into account all work done not just adoption by students.  Pedagogical improvements and collaboration was involved too.
• The success of this project helps ensure that other innovative projects can be done as well.
• Project included scaffolding student work
• Collaborative and learning outcomes-based approach can effectively guide instructional design.
• Badges should not be considered the end goal - the end goal is improved pedagogy.
• Use of control groups can help measure efficacy of badging system
• Learn from the planning stages...