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by Sara Samuel
What are digital badges?
Just as a physical Girl Scout or Boy Scout badge indicates an accomplishment or rank, so does a digital badge. Digital badges are electronic files that are represented with an image and corresponding information that can validate a person’s accomplishment is embedded with the file – including links to the issuing organization, a list of requirements, and evidence for completion of those requirements. Just as a girl scout leader has to sign a statement that a girl scout has completed the requirements for a badge, an organization will issue the digital badge upon successful completion of the listed requirements. Digital badges can be displayed on a personal or professional website, or shared through social media.
HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory) has a great informational website about digital badges that includes videos and example badges. You can also read more about the benefits and challenges of digital badges at the following resources:
- Digital Badges Help Young People, Adults Demonstrate Skills. August 2013. MacArthur Foundation.
- A Future Full of Badges. April 2012. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
- How Badges Really Work in Higher Education. June 2013. Campus Technology.
Can we apply digital badges to librarianship?
At the beginning of the school year, Instructor College Steering Committee (ICSC) had a few conversations about how we could possibly change the outcomes of Instructor College (IC). IC used to be a series of workshops given over a short period of time, and participants would receive a certificate at the end of the series, acknowledging their participation. Since then, ICSC has evolved to be more of a group that organizes IC events for library instructors without having any recognition tied to them. ICSC had the idea that we could become more like the IC of old by using digital badges to recognize people who came to IC events and were able to demonstrate that they learned something that could impact their instruction. Do you think digital badges could realistically be used as a professional development tool here at UM Library?
Beyond professional development, library instructors often give open workshops and teach students skills that they may not get formally recognized for in a traditional classroom setting. Do you think digital badges could be used to incentivize participation in open workshops at the library? Would they be an effective motivator for students?
For either of these to become viable, library administration would have to provide support. There would need to be high level coordination between groups that organize the various events that people can attend here at the library so that there is consistent recognition of participation. For both the professional development and the open workshops, a reward system could be set up: earn x number of badges during the year, and you can get a free MLibrary umbrella (students, faculty) or additional travel money to attend a conference (library staff). Would it be worth creating a digital badging infrastructure to support these kinds of awards?
What’s currently being done at U-M?
If you’re wondering about any local initiatives, the LIT Learning Technology Incubation Group (LTIG) and the USE Lab from U-M Library are spearheading a digital badging project called Mblems. Mblems were issued this year to recognize undergraduates’ co-curricular learning in Engineering. Partnering with the M-STEM Academy, the Mblem digital badges represent a flexible, portable, and verifiable format in which to recognize, display, and transmit learning opportunities. The pilot study, funded by a Transforming Learning for a Third Century Quick Wins grant, ran through Winter 2014. Questions about this project may be directed to email@example.com.
(Text for this section was taken from an informational message from Steve Lonn in the January 17, 2014 internal Library Newsletter.)
Want to try digital badging yourself?
To test out the digital badge concept for myself, I set up a Mozilla Backpack and earned 2 badges. You can check them out on my profile page – proof that I understand digital badges and can use a browser! If you want to try it out yourself, you can earn your first badge by taking the badges 101 quiz.
Diana Perpich, current chair of Instructor College Steering Committee, has developed a badge just for us at U-M Library by using Credly, a platform for creating and issuing digital badges. To earn the badge, you will need to do 3 things:
- Find & read at least 1 popular article about digital badges.
- Find & read at least 1 scholarly article about digital badges.
- Write up your opinion about digital badges as they apply to librarianship.
To request your badge, please follow these steps:
- Go to https://credly.com/claim/17888/8B1-2E8E-211
- You will need to either create a Credly account, or sign into Credly using LinkedIn or Facebook.
- Click on the Document icon to upload a document that contains citations for the articles you found, as well as your position paragraph about digital badges and librarianship.
- Click on “Claim this credit”
Your evidence will be reviewed and the badge will be issued if you have successfully met the criteria. If you don’t want to go through the badging process, you are welcome to leave your comments below.
What do you think about digital badges? Do you think we could implement a digital badging system for professional development or student motivation here at U-M Library?
by Sara Samuel
One of the things I struggle with the most when I am invited to give an instruction session is what to focus on during the limited time I have with the students. I assume (correctly or not) that this may be the only time that a student will have contact with a librarian, the students have never been educated on anything related to information literacy, and that this is my only change to convey the importance of understanding how to retrieve and evaluate information. Obviously these assumptions could easily be incorrect, however they are why I appreciated watching the recording of ACRL IS Midwinter 2014 Virtual Current Issues Discussion Forum: “Teaching the Art of Academic Dialogue: A Discussion on Threshold Concepts” presented by Kate Langan.
I hadn’t heard of threshold concepts before, and following my viewing of the recording, I was prompted to see if I could find more information about the concepts. I ended up finding a paper that Kate mentioned in her presentation, and the following part of the paper’s introduction especially resonated with me (as the authors predicted!):
Ursula Lucas and Rosina Mladenovic observe that students in mandatory accounting courses that employed threshold concepts were better able to see the “why” of this discipline, and “see well beyond their initial preconceptions and take on a new world view.” This is especially resonant for information literacy instructors who, like accounting professors, frequently teach students who see no clear need for information literacy instruction and are not likely to progress beyond these preconceptions if the focus is solely on the tools and procedures of information use.
Townsend, L. & Brunetti, K. & Hofer, A. R.(2011). Threshold Concepts and Information Literacy. portal: Libraries and the Academy 11(3), 853-869. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Retrieved February 5, 2014, from Project MUSE database.
That’s it! Every time I give an instruction session, I end up teaching “which tools” and “where to click” when what I really want to teach students is the WHYs of information literacy. I understand that there is a time and place for teaching the tools, but teaching the whys of information literacy to our students is equally, if not more, important. I think the concepts discussed in this webinar have provided a way for me to reconsider how I teach something and consider when I can integrate information literacy.
Before I move on, it would probably help if I defined “threshold concepts.” According to Townsend, Brunetti, and Hofer, threshold concepts are the core ideas and processes that define the ways of thinking and practicing for a discipline. They are transformational, unforgettable, irreversible, liminal, troublesome, integrative, and bounded by discipline. Kate gave the examples that Helen Keller couldn’t learn anything until she understood the concept of language, and astronomy couldn’t continue to move forward until it was understood that the earth revolved around the sun.
In her presentation, Kate brings up several ideas that will help me reconsider how I’m teaching students:
- We are attached to the idea that students need to perform or produce something (artifacts) to prove that they learned something, but it’s possible a student may have transformed their thinking which won’t always show through an assessment like that.
- One possible measurement of learning is to determine how comfortable students are with taking risks – putting themselves out there and taking a chance at doing something that might fail. We need to provide the space and opportunities for students to take risks, which should be infused with a sense of play so students are more willing to take those risks. Kate says “Play celebrates process and isn’t bound by success or failure. In higher education we tend to think more about success & failure and it’s limiting.”
- In high school, many students are asked to find and repeat answers, but at the university level they are asked to produce knowledge and give voice to that knowledge (either to critically assess accepted knowledge or to produce new knowledge). This is a foreign and new process to most students and we need to understand that.
- Academic dialogue empowers readers to find their own solutions. We should encourage and teach students to challenge writers as they are reading. Participating in academic dialog also helps students figure out who they are and find their voice by discussing with peers, asserting their opinion and defending it, writing a blog post for the public to read. Kate states “As teachers, we need to provide a safe environment free of bias where students can explore truths, try out their voice, and be supportive/redirect them when/if they fail.”
So what does all of this mean for us here at UM Library? I think it means a few things:
- Let’s re-think how we frame our instruction and the vocabulary we use – both in the classroom and during one-on-one consultations. I like the terms that Kate used:
- Getting unstuck: We need to assure students that it’s likely they will get stuck at some point and give them options for getting unstuck – contact a librarian, visit the library, or use our Ask a Librarian service. This seems more empowering than simply saying “If you need help, come to the library!” How does a student know they need help? By saying that they should come to the library when they are stuck, it gives students a way to identify when they actually need help.
- Finding a voice: Rather than tell students to figure out a thesis statement for their paper, ask them: What’s your truth? What do you want your reader to find out? Simply framing the idea of a thesis statement in a way that students can understand and relate to can help them develop a stronger voice.
- Being faithful to/honoring your truth: This is especially relevant for library instruction and the idea of evaluating sources. We need students to want to make sure their ideas are supported by good information, and students themselves have a desire to be trusted. Will a reader trust you if you’re using bad resources? Students can ask themselves: Can you trust this information? If you cite bad information, are you responsible for perpetuating ignorance?
- Should we re-think our current method of assessment? Are we interested in determining if students can use the new database they just learned about, or do we want to know if students have grasped the importance of information literacy? There are times when all we want students to know is how to use a particular database, but I think that every time we interact with students, we should try to incorporate the idea that information literacy is important and it will serve you through your entire life.
- How do we support students with taking risks? Are we incorporating a sense of play into our instruction sessions or into our library space? The library should be a place that is risk-free and full of opportunities for students to explore the process of learning something, without the end result of either success or failure. Can we create more opportunities outside the classroom for students to experience learning something or are we already doing so?
I know I still have a long way to go, especially since I do not have formal training in instruction, but I appreciate having these ideas to consider when I’m planning for my next instruction session.
Do you have any ideas on how we can assess students on their understanding of information literacy? Do you have any ideas on how the library can provide more opportunities for safe risk taking? I appreciate your comments and thoughts!
Guest post by Emily Puckett Rodgers, Special Projects Librarian
While learning about knitting or cake decorating may not seem like professional development to most people, the act of teaching and the act of learning can be very powerful, especially if it is interest-driven. The staff at the University of Michigan Library are deeply involved in supporting learning at all levels: the identification, access and organization of information to inform learning, the instruction of techniques to support learning, and the provision of tools and services that can drive learning. However, not all of our staff (over four hundred) often engage in the act of learning and teaching ourselves.
Constance Steinkuehler, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin started out studying online games and literacy. What she stumbled upon was the fact that when students are genuinely passionate about learning more on a subject, their learning intensifies and opportunities for teaching can arise. Often our professional development opportunities put us in the professional learner’s seat and we don’t always get the chance to embody the teaching role or be a student of the world. We’re also starting to pay attention to how learners drive their learning outside formal learning settings, as seen in the research done by the Connected Learning Research Network.
In a large university library with several distinct divisions, it can be hard to gain a holistic picture of how all the pieces fit together, even for the staff. We have opportunities to learn and to teach more about each other through social events and speed-networking events, but these can either lack a hook (an incentive to walk up to someone you don’t know and start chatting) or are still role-based (The question “what do you do?” can be daunting to start a conversation around). As one of the world’s leading libraries, we are expected to be forward thinking and innovative. According to Tim Brown, CEO of Ideo, this state often requires three things: curiosity, an open mind, and a trusted space to take risk.
These features, supporting passion and participatory based learning and connecting library staff based on interest rather than responsibility, catalyzed my interest in organizing the University Library Festival of Learning, held in August 2013. Upon administrative approval, an interlibrary committee was formed to organize the Festival of Learning and it took place in August 2013.
A call for sessions was posted and we had over twenty staff from almost every unit propose a teaching session. Many of these staff had never formally taught before but we required that they provide learning objects and develop some sort of lesson plan for their students. Some sessions were lecture based and others were hands-on. Many teachers brought supplies for others to use to create things like handmade books, jewelry, knitting, and origami. This gave each teacher an opportunity to embrace the role of an instructor and define what they wanted their peers to gain from the experience. By stepping into the role of ‘teacher,’ these participants were given the challenge to create an experience both fun and informative for their peers. This setting developed a safe space to take what otherwise may be a daunting risk (getting up in front of others and being responsible for ‘teaching’ them something). This skill can be applied across several settings from team-based projects and committee work to representing the library on a local or regional scale.
From the learner perspective, this gave library staff a chance to connect with their peers on a topic that was interest-driven rather than professional. Regardless of rank, responsibility, or role, all the participants in a single session came together based on a common interest. This interest can now fuel additional conversations and possible collaborations across units. As an organizer of the Festival of Learning, I got to know library staff across physical locations and units that I might otherwise never work with. I was able to connect with managers and staff who have years of experience compared to my few years at the start of my career. Because of this introduction, I can now call on them if I have a question or a need from their domain of responsibility.
This opportunity gave over 150 participants from across the library an outlet to: embody and practice teaching, connect with their colleagues, and forge new relationships. You can read more about this event from the perspective of maker culture on the MakerBridge blog.
There are six members of the Instructor College Steering Committee this year. Diana and Jungwon are returning, Harold is rejoining after a hiatus, and Nandita and Nancy are new to the group. We are looking forward to working together to offer engaging programming and forward-leaning resources for library instruction. We invite you to contact any one of us with questions or suggestions.
I joined the University of Michigan – Taubman Health Sciences Library in September 2012 and have had a variety of opportunities to utilize my background in instructional technology to analyze, design, develop, and implement instruction. I am happy to be part of the Instructor College and have where I have the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues on issues pertaining to instruction and how each of us can make a difference in facilitating performance and improving learning outcomes.
I have been developing web applications at Web system for more than four years. Recently I co-taught several instruction sessions on using Omeka, since then I found the power and joy to explain what you build for users. I am interested to learn, develop and apply instructional strategies that will help library instructors. I was honored to join Instructor College Steering committee.
I am honored to be a member of the Instructor College Steering Committee. I look forward to working with a group of colleagues that is as curious and passionate about best practices in the art of instruction as they are about the sciences of collection management, key-word searching, circulation services, etc.. Some of my favorite classroom moments are the ones when instructor becomes student and I learn something — usually from a student– about whatever I’m teaching or, better yet, about myself.
Although I do not have any formal training in instruction, I’m excited to help organize events and initiatives that can help the library continue to provide top-notch instruction to our students, staff, and faculty. I enjoy one-on-one instruction, giving tours, and helping students discover a new and useful resource or service.
I have been providing library instruction for users since 1981. I have taught hundreds of instructional sessions and workshops for students, faculty, and staff, have developed and taught research methods courses, and was for ten years an adjunct instructor in the Graduate School of Information at UM. I have authored a variety of articles and conference presentations, and my 1984 article “Learning Theory and the Self-reliant Library User”, co-authored with Carla Stoffle, won the ALA-RUSA Reference Service Press Award in 1986 as “the most outstanding article published in RQ/RUSQ during the preceding two-volume year”. My areas of particular interest include pedagogy and learning theory, and the application of active learning techniques in instructional sessions.
In July 2012, I joined University of Michigan Library as International Government Information and Public Policy Librarian. I am interested in developing instruction resources and strategies which will help library instructors to effectively interact with various types of students and researchers. I believe that working on the Instructor College Steering Committee will be a great chance to learn about library instruction.
Please feel free to share your ideas here on the blog or contact us.
Instructor College hosted an Active Learning Panel on May 24, 2013. Thirty librarians attended and heard from five colleagues, each of whom demonstrated an active learning exercise used in instruction.
Steve Lonn presented VoiceThread. VoiceThread is an online presentation tool that is unique because of the multiple options for audience members to add public comments. Students can type text comments, record audio and/or video comments, and also draw on slides to annotate them.
For some classes Steve teaches, he preloads slides into a VoiceThread presentation. Some of the slides prompt students to reflect about their own practice. In the end, the presentation is one part Steve’s original content and many parts student contribution.
During Steve’s presentation, we were encouraged to one-click register with VoiceThread, then experiment with commenting on a sample VoiceThread. We then discussed some ways librarians might use VoiceThread, perhaps during instruction, or maybe as a pre- or post-instruction activity.
Our second presenter was Mark MacEachern, who talked about Clinical Case instruction for medical students. Health Science instruction mimics the real-life environment, where clinicians will be faced with medical questions and will need to use the library resources to find answers.
In these clinical cases, the Librarian instructors present students with questions based on real medical cases. The Librarians then suggest resources that the students will find useful. Students then search for information that they can use to diagnose the health problem and suggest a treatment.
Librarians co-teach with medical school faculty, who comment on the results reported by the students. Librarians then highlight the strengths of the various resources.
Following Mark’s presentation, Catherine Morse presented on an exercise that she uses in a UC 370 class. Catherine begins this exercise by talking about how difficult data are to find. She also talks about users of data need to understand the data, and how research methods influence the data that come from studies.
To illustrate, Catherine gives her students an exercise where they find census data from their hometowns. By looking at how the data are reported through the years, Catherine is able to open a discussion of how census forms have evolved over time, and how the changes to how questions have changed how data on populations are reported.
Amanda Peters followed Catherine’s presentation with a demonstration of a Database Searching exercise use with undergraduate students. This exercise gives groups of students assigned databases and questions to search in them.
After students have had time to work with the databases, they report out to the larger group on what they’ve found: The types of articles indexed, whether full textis available in the database, and what options for citing are available. As students report out, Amanda comments on their search strategies and on strengths and weaknesses of the different databases.
With this exercise, Amanda finds that students immediately apply the skills that they learn in the early part of the instruction session, and they also learn from their peers.
Susan Turkel gave the final presentation. Susan presented a quality exercise that she uses in Psychology instruction. Students work together in pairs to answer the question, “How do you figure out which search results are good?” – or which are the higher quality search results that instructors will want to see cited in papers.
As students report out to the larger group, Susan discusses their results with them and fills in the blanks. In a final part of the exercise, Susan passes out lists of references for students to review. She asks them to make notes about the pros and cons of the various references and whether students would use these references for their papers or not.
A heartfelt Thank You to all presenters! Materials can be accessed at MBox: https://umich.box.com/activelearn
MLibrary Study Group : Coursera E-learning and Digital Cultures
It probably went pretty much as we would have predicted. A dozen Library staff showed up for our first study group in late January and, six weeks later, exactly two of us turned in the final course project. That mirrors the 10% completion rate posted by the major MOOCs last year (Check out researcher Katy Jordan’s interactive data visualization).
Coursera’s “E-learning and Digital Cultures” class was offered by the University of Edinburgh, and was promoted as an exploration on “how digital cultures intersect with learning cultures online, and how our ideas about online education are shaped through “narratives”, or big stories, about the relationship between people and technology.” It sounded like a great topic for the Instructor College, and the Steering Committee decided to organize an in-person study group for anyone interested in following or enrolling in the class. Our plan was to meet at least three times over the course of the five-week course.
Our initial face-to-face meeting included participants with a variety of library affiliations. North, medical, and central campus were all represented, as were public services and tech services. About half were mostly just curious — about the topic of the course; about others’ experiences and expectations; about whether and how we might study together with such divergent goals for participation. In that regard, I hope our first meeting was a success for all.
The course was designed with just one creative final project, and that wasn’t due until the last week of class. Between Week 1 and Week 5, Coursera students were expected to engage in the material and with other students as appropriate. At scale, that seemed to mean that, like water, we would seek our own level. Courserans (that’s what they call ’em) with like-minded expectations, learning styles, and social media preferences would find each other in the Discussion board, on Twitter, Pintrest, Flickr, Google+, etc.. There/where-ever, they shared stories, opinions, and predictions about the impact of digital technology on civilization. MOOCs and education theory were common threads, but no more common than personal rants and creative license.
Graduate students from University of Edinburgh (presumably, tuition-paying souls) were simultaneously enrolled in the class. Carl Berger style, they were tasked with designing the curriculum and meta-cognating on the course experience. Each was responsible for monitoring multiple interaction channels, synthesizing our collective experience, and presenting their interpretation via new-media to the world. My personal favorite captures the sense of commotion through a collection of text snippets posted by course participants:
Meanwhile in the brick and mortar of Harlan Hatcher, a handful of us met every week or so to watch the assigned videos and discuss the readings. The videos were short and provocative, exploring the Jekyll and Hyde nature of Technology as sinister and savior. A sampling:
Bendito Machine III (http://youtu.be/xiXOigfDb0U)
A Day Made of Glass (http://youtu.be/jZkHpNnXLB0)
They’re Made Out Of Meat (http://youtu.be/IfPdhsP8XjI)
Our last few study groups focused on the progress a few of us were making on our final projects* and the progress the rest of us had abandoned due to more pressing commitments and a nasty flu bug. Conversation turned to our complex feelings about failure and success in this unique learning environment. How might our feelings (and actions) have changed if we had paid tuition? What if the final project wasn’t peer-graded, or creative and exploratory? To what extent did we stretch ourselves, to what extent did we learn — independently or from each other — regardless?
Speaking of learning from the experience, I recently stumbled upon the Edinburgh teaching team’s blog (http://edcmoocteam.wordpress.com). If you’re interested in instructional design, you may it informative. Their most recent post is rather technical, but others are more pedagogically reflective.
Instructor College is considering another MOOC study group if we can identify another course on a topic of general interest to MLibrary staff. Let us know if you have any suggestions.
Submitted by Diana Perpich, Instructor College Steering Committee Member
*Over 500 available at Flickr, search for #EDCMOOC