University at Albany librarians Kelsey O'Brien and Trudi Jacobson discuss the digital badging program they’ve implemented at their library, and outline tips and best practices regarding badging. The presenters, editors of Teaching with Digital Badges: Best Practices for Libraries (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018), will provide attendees with lessons learned and advice on how to launch your own micro-credentialing effort and make it a success.

1. Teaching with Digital Badges: Best
Practices for Libraries
August 22, 2019
An InfoLit Learning Community Webinar

2. Kelsey O’Brien
Information Literacy Librarian
Trudi Jacobson
Head, Information Literacy
Department

3. What We’ll Talk About
● What is a Digital Badge?
● Badges in Higher Education
● The Metaliteracy Badging System
○ Background
○ Successes and Challenges
● Takeaways and Best Practices
● Q&A

4. Poll
What is your familiarity with digital badges?
a. Not very familiar/just starting to explore
b. Knowledgeable but haven’t participated in a badge
program
c. In the process of developing a badge program
d. There is an established badge program at my institution or
library

5. What is a Digital Badge?

6. • A record of achievement
• Acknowledgement of an
accomplishment
• Indication of a proven skill or
ability

7. A record of achievement
Acknowledgement of an
accomplishment
Indication of a proven skill or ability
Evidence of learning
Verification of competency
Validation of non-traditional skills
or experiences

8. Badges answer three
questions:
● Who did something
● What did they do
● Who says they did it
Educause (2019). 7 Things You Should Know About Digital Badges

9. What’s All the
Hype About?

10. Open Badges (P.S. there’s data inside…) by @bryanMMathers is licenced under CC-BY-ND

11. http://www.badgetheworld.org/

12. Teaching with Digital Badges: Best Practices for Libraries
“As epicenters of lifelong learning
and discovery, libraries prom ote
inquiry, openness, and innovation—
values that are also cham pioned by
the open badging m ovem ent.
Libraries of all types, particularly
academ ic libraries, have long since
shifted their focus from knowledge
repositories to service-oriented
institutions focused largely on
teaching vital research and learning
strategies . Outside entities, however,
are often unaware of the educational
opportunities that librarians
provide and how they can help m eet
established needs.”

13. Situating Badging in
Higher Education

14. Changing Student Expectations
Students seek:
● Flexible/shorter options to
fit busy schedules
● Less debt
● Evidence of mastery of
specific abilities and
knowledge
(Jacobson, Forces of Change for Higher Education, Teaching with
Digital Badges, Rowman & Littlefield, 2018)

15. Hurdles for Developing Higher Ed Badging
● Not taken seriously by some in higher education
● Some see badging as a threat
● Represent a wide and confusing range of efforts,
● Standards vary

16. Benefits to Higher Education
● Can be a boon to campus workforce training programs
● Can expand lifelong learning offerings
● Can document internship and other non-traditional learning
within the college setting
● Can help students frame their accomplishments to meet
employer needs
Educause (2019). 7 Things You Should Know About Digital Badges

17. Meeting Needs with IL Badges
● Course-related requests
● General education
● 21st century literacy
abilities
● Lifelong learning

18. The Metaliteracy Badging System:
Background

19. “While literacy is focused on reading and
writing, and information literacy has strongly
emphasized search and retrieval,
metaliteracy is about what happens
beyond these abilities to promote the
collaborative production and sharing of
information” (p. 6).
Metaliteracy: Reinventing Information Literacy to Empower Learners
(Mackey and Jacobson, 2014).

20. Focuses on the knowledge, abilities, and attitudes needed...
● To be a responsible producer and consumer of
information
● In individual and collaborative environments
It acknowledges the impact that the web and social media have
on learning and literacy, as well as the increased opportunities for
collaboration they provide.

21. Metaliteracy and the IL Framework

22. Metacognitive: what
learners think about their
own thinking - a reflective
understanding of how and
why they learn, what they
do and do not know, their
preconceptions, and how to
continue to learn
Cognitive: what students
should know upon
successful completion of
learning activities -
comprehension,
organization, application,
evaluation
Behavioral: what students
should be able to do upon
successful completion of
learning activities - skills,
competencies
Affective: changes in
learners’ emotions or
attitudes through
engagement with learning
activities
Mackey and Jacobson (2014). Metaliteracy: Reinventing Information Literacy to Empower Learners.
The Metaliteracy Learning Domains

23. Metaliterate Learner Roles
Mackey and Jacobson (2014). Metaliteracy: Reinventing Information Literacy to Empower Learners

24. The Metaliteracy Badging System:
Overview

25. The Original Metaliteracy Badging System

26. Coming Soon!

27. Our Journey So Far
Original Platform
Wordpress, BadgeOS, LearnDash Plugins
Credly (free version)
User-generated accounts
In-house graphic design
Custom Platform
Custom development
Credly Acclaim enterprise account
Single Sign On
Professional rebranding

28. The Metaliteracy Badging System
https://sites.google.com/view/metaliteracy/home

34. Student and Instructor Dashboards

35. Progress Maps

36. Issuing Platform

37. Successes

38. “The use of the term metaliteracy
suggests a way of thinking about one’s
own literacy. To be metaliterate requires
individuals to understand their existing
literacy strengths and areas for
improvement and make decisions about
their learning” (p. 2).
Fostering Metacognition
Metaliteracy: Reinventing Information Literacy to
Empower Learners (Mackey and Jacobson, 2014).

39. Communicating with Faculty
Badges and Badge Constellations...
● Provide a useful visual for
showing what librarians teach
● Serve as an appealing marketing
tool
● Encourage faculty to think beyond
bibliographic instruction
● Inspire creative faculty/librarian
collaborations

40. Two Success Stories
Susan, Writing and Critical Inquiry Instructor
(required first year course)
Sally, Political Science Instructor

41. Extending One-Shots
Badges...
● Facilitate a flipped classroom model (quests as pre- and post work)
● Allow librarians to guage student understanding before class
● Enable instructors to embed metaliteracy into their teaching
● Encourage collaborative lesson planning
● Extend reach of instruction when librarians and time are limited (full or
nearly full program implementations in ECPY and WCI)

42. Takeaways and Best Practices

43. Start with Your End Goals in Mind
● Backward Design - What do you ultimately want students
to know or be able to do once they’ve earned the badge?
● Would a student want to display this badge on a portfolio
or profile page? Would employers care about this
credential?
● Don’t lose track of your purpose

44. Backward Design Process
Establish your Purpose (e.g.
goals & desired learning
outcomes)
Why would someone want to earn
the badge?
Decide on Evidence (e.g.
assessments, final projects)
How will students demonstrate that
they have met the learning
outcomes?
Map Learning Pathways (e.g.
lessons, activities)
How will you support students so
that they can reach the learning
outcome?

45. Gather Feedback Throughout the Process
● Student and faculty surveys
● Student Advisory Board
● Usability Testing

46. What We’ve Learned
1. If others think what you are proposing is
complicated and you disagree, take
another look
2. It will take much longer than you thought
3. Not everyone you pitch it to will be
excited
4. Some will be very excited
5. It opens new conversations with potential
new partners
6. Believe in what you are doing

47. Next Steps
● Launch the updated platform
● Usability testing
● Align with new UAlbany and SUNY micro-credential policies
● Update metadata for UAlbany Credly Acclaim account
● Continue to work toward scaling and customization

48. Thanks for attending!
klobrien@albany.edu | tjacobson@albany.edu
Resources
ACRL Digital Badges Interest Group
Metaliteracy.org
O’Brien, K.L. & Jacobson, T.E. (Eds.). (2018). Teaching with digital badges: Best
practices for libraries. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Badge Design Resources

49. Check out our InfoLit Learning Community for
more resources to increase your information
literacy instruction!
credo.link/learningcommunity