digital badges and information literacy instruction

Digital Badges and Information Literacy

InstructionAndrew Battista

ALA 2014 Annual Meeting LITA Games Making Interest Group

June 29, 2014

Academically Adrift

• Limited college learning

• Grade inflation• No measurable

acquisition of critical thinking skills

Flawed Measures

Multiple choice tests condense learning into a finite set of choices, one of which is ostensibly “correct”

Demonstrate an understanding of the major policies that form the foundation of social welfare

Identify populations-at-risk and describe the dynamics whereby such populations come to the oppressed and discriminated against.. 

Apply critical thinking skills to the analysis of issues of social and economic justice.

Describe the roles of social work in relation to social policy, including the role of the NASW Code of Ethics in social welfare policy practice.Analyze policies in terms of

their influence in the lives of citizens and clients of the social welfare system, with special attention to such diverse groups as children, women, racial and ethnic minorities, the elderly, gays and lesbians.

Read, analyze and evaluate social welfare policies and programs

Broken Assessment

We will not eliminate grade-grubbing until we change our current educational system

•Treated as secondary to classroom learning

•Not attached to grades•Limited contact with

students•Duplication of

instruction efforts

Information Literacy Instruction

Badge Initiatives

Badges contribute to, identify, recognize, measure, and account for new skills wherever and whenever learning takes place

Learning Management Systems

• Design badge systems

• Assign to specific users

• Transfer achievements across courses

Infrastructure

1. Department or Program

UC Davis Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems

SWK 203 Introduction to Social Welfare and Social Work

SWK 350 Introduction to Social Work Practice

SWK 355 Research in Social Welfare

SWK 373 Social Policy

SWK 420 Social Work Practice with Communities

SWK 455 Social Work Practicum

Social Justice Badge

Census Data Badge

Credential Achievements

2. Ongoing System of Rewards

Char Booth, Claremont Libraries Lemontree, University of Huddersfield, UK

3. Credit-Bearing Course

Curation Culture: Information Literacy, Brain Science, Social Media

● One-credit● No grades

Platforms Literacies

List Criteria• Create a Twitter account with a public profile• Establish topically-oriented lists that have

descriptions• Create multiple lists that span disparate spheres• Follow other users and their lists• Follow and save hashtag searches that are

meaningful to you (e.g., #curationculture)• Establish principles for consuming information on

Twitter• Differentiate between Twitter’s various functions,

retweets, favorites, replies, and show how you use each of them

Structure Recursiveness

Encourage the mastery of concepts by rewarding students who revisit earlier learning

Incorporate Fun Elements

• Create hidden achievements

• Instill elements of surprise to enhance the game

Improvement

• Establish game environment

• Downplay competition

• Find middle ground

Andrew BattistaInformation Literacy and Reference Librarian, University of Montevallo

E mail: andrewbattista@gmail.comTwitter: @rawdeal85Blog: http://curationculture.org

Slides: http://tiny.cc/gamesmaking

Contact Information