Digital Badges Interest Group

*Please excuse cross-posting!* 

 Registration Open! 

 Wednesday, April 24, 2024 @ 1:00 Eastern Time  

 REGISTER HERE:  

https://psu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEvceGvqT8uEtQ8PlLfs-71AtgcpqeZmmuI 

The ACRL Digital Badge Interest Group will be hosting a free webinar with speakers Denise A. Wetzel, Sara Kern, and Paul McMonigle (all affiliated with the Penn State University Libraries). 

 "Engaging With Engineering: A Discussion of the Preliminary Steps in the Creation of a Digital Badge for First Year Engineering Design Students" 

This presentation will share progress on a micro-credentialing project underway to teach about 2,000 engineering first-year students per year basic research and information literacy skills. Historically, engineering librarians used direct instruction for information literacy, a model that fails to capture every incoming student. 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. To address this problem, the authors applied for and received a grant to develop an asynchronous digital badge designed to both replace the previous in-class instruction and complement regular engineering coursework. 

Denise A. Wetzel (she/her) is the Science & Engineering Librarian at Pennsylvania State University Libraries. She is also the Patent and Trademark Resource Center Representative for the University Park PTRC. She holds a Masters in Library and Information Studies from the University of Alabama and a Masters in Aquatic Environmental Science from Florida State University. Before joining Penn State, Denise worked for the Florida State University Libraries, Mississippi State University Libraries, and as a teacher.

Sara Kern (she/her) is an Engineering Librarian at Pennsylvania State University. She earned her M.S. in Library and Information Science from Syracuse University and her M.A. in History from the Pennsylvania State University. Her research interests include inclusive library outreach and instruction. 

Paul McMonigle (he/him) is the Engineering Instruction Librarian at the Pennsylvania State University. He earned his M.S. in Library and Information Sciences from Syracuse University and will earn a M.Ed. degree in Learning, Design, and Technology from the Pennsylvania State University in May 2024.