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WIP: Micro-Credentialing for the First Year: Creating a Digital Badge for Engineering Information Literacy

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Conference

15th Annual First-Year Engineering Experience Conference (FYEE)

Location

Boston, Massachusetts

Publication Date

July 28, 2024

Start Date

July 28, 2024

End Date

July 30, 2024

Page Count

5

DOI

10.18260/1-2--48639

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/48639

Download Count

128

Paper Authors

biography

Paul McMonigle Pennsylvania State University

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Paul McMonigle is the Engineering Instruction Librarian at the Pennsylvania State University. He graduated from Syracuse University with a MS-LIS degree in December of 2018 and from the Pennsylvania State University with a M.Ed. in Learning, Design, and Technology in 2024. His research interests include information literacy instruction for STEM students, student engagement and outreach programs, and the history of STEM subject libraries.

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biography

Denise Amanda Wetzel Pennsylvania State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-5332-2287

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Denise A. Wetzel joined Florida State University Libraries in January 2018. She holds a B.H. in Interdisciplinary Studies from the Pennsylvania State University and a Masters in Library and Information Studies from the University of Alabama. Currently, Denise is pursuing a Masters in Aquatic Environmental Science with Florida State University’s Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science. She is a member of Atmospheric Science Librarians International (ASLI), the American Meteorological Society (AMS), the American Society of Engineering Education/Engineering Libraries Division (ELD), the International Association of Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers/SAIL, and the American Library Association (ALA). Before joining FSU, Denise worked for Mississippi State University Libraries, the Alabama Public Library Service, and as an ESL teacher. Her research interests include undergraduate information literacy, patent searching in STEM, terminology usage disparities by researchers across STEM disciplines, and meteorology resources and their use.

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biography

Sara Kern Pennsylvania State University

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Sara Kern (she/her) is an Engineering Librarian at Penn State University. She earned her MA in history from Penn State and her MSLIS at Syracuse University. Her research interests include inclusive library outreach and instruction.

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Abstract

This Works-in-Progress Paper focuses on a micro-credentialing project through the creation of a digital badge for first year engineering students to teach basic research and information literacy skills. At the authors’ university, all engineering students are required to take a first-year design course. Historically, engineering librarians approach information literacy skill introductions through in-class instructional sessions, affectionately termed, “one-shots.” The authors teach an average of 40 sections each semester, making it difficult to reach every class with the current libraries staffing model. This leaves some students at a disadvantage, lacking foundational research skills in their first year and requiring librarians to cover this basic material in some upper-level courses, in lieu of more advanced topics.

This paper shares progress on a micro-credentialing project underway to asynchronously teach engineering first year students basic research and information literacy skills. With the assistance of their College of Engineering’s education center and office of digital learning, the authors received a grant to develop an asynchronous digital badge designed to both replace the previous in-class instruction and complement regular engineering coursework. This badge allows all students in all first-year design courses to receive the same instruction. The authors share lessons learned while creating and designing of a digital badge in course management software. They also look toward future testing and implementation during the 2024-2025 academic year.

McMonigle, P., & Wetzel, D. A., & Kern, S. (2024, July), WIP: Micro-Credentialing for the First Year: Creating a Digital Badge for Engineering Information Literacy Paper presented at 15th Annual First-Year Engineering Experience Conference (FYEE), Boston, Massachusetts. 10.18260/1-2--48639

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