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Portland State reTHINK PSU | Digital Badges for Creativity and Critical Thinking http://www.rethink.pdx.edu/?q=node/139[3/26/13 11:09:31 AM] reTHINK PSU #139 Digital Badges for Creativity and Critical Thinking Home » Digital Badges for Creativity and Critical Thinking Last modified: February 20, 2013 - 10:57am Project Lead Emily Ford Urban & Public Affairs Librarian Library Primary Collaborators Carlos Crespo Director Community Health - Urban & Public Affairs Leslie McBride Associate Professor Community Health - Urban & Public Affairs Michael Chamberlain Instructional Designer Center for Online Learning Additional Collaborators Amy Hofer, Distance Learning Librarian, PSU Millar Library; Meredith Farkas, Head, Library Instructional Services, PSU Millar Library; Belinda Zeidler, Undergraduate Adviser, School of Community Health; Lisa Molinelli, Interim Education Librarian, PSU Millar Library Challenge Inspiration Challenge Abstract/Summary Creativity and critical thinking is one of PSU’s undergraduate Campus Wide Learning Outcomes, yet there is no way to certify the skills that comprise this outcome. Students attain these skills over a course of study, and via experiences in the co-curriculum. Attainment of library research and information evaluation skills is one such way that creativity and critical thinking skills are developed. This proposal outlines a beta test to deploy a digital badge system for creativity and critical thinking skills development and assessment for undergraduate students in the School of Community Health. In partnership the School of Community Health and the PSU Library will procure a digital badge system, create a digital badge curriculum to certify and acknowledge skills attainment for creativity and critical thinking, and deploy this curriculum for undergraduate students in Community Health. As a result, PSU will gain experience with and expertise about using digital badges as a tool for blending competency-based teaching and learning into its curriculum. Introduction All undergraduate students at PSU should graduate with creativity and critical thinking skills, the second of eight distinct campus- wide learning outcomes. Yet, successful completion of an undergraduate degree cannot-- nor can accumulation of credit hours-- fully certify students’ achievements in creativity and critical thinking. How can students verify and display their skills "to strategize, gather, organize, create, refine, analyze, and evaluate the credibility of relevant information and ideas?" (PSU Institutional Assessment Council, Campus Wide Learning Outcomes). Students do not accumulate these skills in one course. Rather, creativity and critical thinking are learned over the course of time, both inside and outside of the classroom; they are distinct skills that continue to develop throughout one’s life. How can PSU better assess and track students’ creativity and critical thinking skills to the end of ensuring that students achieve these skills? The creativity and critical thinking learning outcome itself presents challenges to PSU in that it reflects two sets of skills, which makes it difficult to assess. In fact, the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) provides two distinct rubrics for these skills (AAC&U, VALUE Rubrics, 2012). Home reTHINK: Login to Edit Concept All Proposals Quick Menu Contact myPSU

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  • Portland State reTHINK PSU | Digital Badges for Creativity and Critical Thinking

    http://www.rethink.pdx.edu/?q=node/139[3/26/13 11:09:31 AM]

    reTHINK PSU

    #139 Digital Badges for Creativity and Critical Thinking

    Home Digital Badges for Creativity and Critical Thinking

    Last modified: February 20, 2013 - 10:57am

    Project LeadEmily FordUrban & Public Affairs LibrarianLibrary

    Primary CollaboratorsCarlos CrespoDirectorCommunity Health - Urban & Public AffairsLeslie McBrideAssociate ProfessorCommunity Health - Urban & Public AffairsMichael ChamberlainInstructional DesignerCenter for Online Learning

    Additional CollaboratorsAmy Hofer, Distance Learning Librarian, PSU Millar Library; Meredith Farkas, Head, Library Instructional Services, PSU Millar Library;Belinda Zeidler, Undergraduate Adviser, School of Community Health; Lisa Molinelli, Interim Education Librarian, PSU Millar Library

    ChallengeInspiration Challenge

    Abstract/SummaryCreativity and critical thinking is one of PSUs undergraduate Campus Wide Learning Outcomes, yet there is no way to certify theskills that comprise this outcome. Students attain these skills over a course of study, and via experiences in the co-curriculum.Attainment of library research and information evaluation skills is one such way that creativity and critical thinking skills aredeveloped. This proposal outlines a beta test to deploy a digital badge system for creativity and critical thinking skills developmentand assessment for undergraduate students in the School of Community Health. In partnership the School of Community Healthand the PSU Library will procure a digital badge system, create a digital badge curriculum to certify and acknowledge skillsattainment for creativity and critical thinking, and deploy this curriculum for undergraduate students in Community Health. As aresult, PSU will gain experience with and expertise about using digital badges as a tool for blending competency-based teachingand learning into its curriculum.

    IntroductionAll undergraduate students at PSU should graduate with creativity and critical thinking skills, the second of eight distinct campus-wide learning outcomes. Yet, successful completion of an undergraduate degree cannot-- nor can accumulation of credit hours--fully certify students achievements in creativity and critical thinking. How can students verify and display their skills "to strategize,gather, organize, create, refine, analyze, and evaluate the credibility of relevant information and ideas?" (PSU InstitutionalAssessment Council, Campus Wide Learning Outcomes). Students do not accumulate these skills in one course. Rather, creativityand critical thinking are learned over the course of time, both inside and outside of the classroom; they are distinct skills thatcontinue to develop throughout ones life. How can PSU better assess and track students creativity and critical thinking skills to theend of ensuring that students achieve these skills?

    The creativity and critical thinking learning outcome itself presents challenges to PSU in that it reflects two sets of skills, whichmakes it difficult to assess. In fact, the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) provides two distinct rubrics forthese skills (AAC&U, VALUE Rubrics, 2012).

    Home reTHINK: Login to Edit Concept All Proposals

    Quick MenuContactmyPSU

    http://pdx.edu/http://www.rethink.pdx.edu/http://www.rethink.pdx.edu/http://www.pdx.edu/institutional-assessment-council/undergraduate-cwlos-with-rationaleshttp://www.pdx.edu/institutional-assessment-council/undergraduate-cwlos-with-rationaleshttp://www.aacu.org/value/rubrics/index.cfmhttp://www.rethink.pdx.edu/?q=the-provosts-challengehttp://www.rethink.pdx.edu/?q=loginhttp://www.rethink.pdx.edu/?q=proposalshttp://www.rethink.pdx.edu/quick-menuhttp://www.rethink.pdx.edu/?q=contacthttp://my.pdx.edu/

  • Portland State reTHINK PSU | Digital Badges for Creativity and Critical Thinking

    http://www.rethink.pdx.edu/?q=node/139[3/26/13 11:09:31 AM]

    Despite this challenge, one such way to present, deliver, assess, and track students acquisition of creativity and critical thinkingskills at PSU is with a digital badge system. Digital badges, much like badges earned in scouting or games, can certify skillsacquisition. ...Digital badges are actually portals that lead to large amounts of information about what their bearers know and cando (Carey, Kevin. Show Me Your Badge. New York Times 2 Nov. 2012). Badges can certify skills that students acquire over acourse of study, and which could develop into a set of skills that comprise creativity and critical thinking.

    The PSU Library's learning outcomes are designed to support our institutional Creativity and Critical Thinking outcome. Librarylearning outcomes are those that support what librarians call information literacy. In this way, PSU's Creativity and Critical Thinkingoutcome directly correlates to information literacy. Yet, there is no certification or official acknowledgment for students whoachieve the PSU Librarys learning outcomes or skills in information literacy. Moreover, disciplines such as Public Health haverecognized the need for undergraduate students to achieve information literacy skills.

    The Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) (2012) recognizes information literacy as a critical component element of anundergraduate major in public health. Students should be able to locate, use, evaluate, and synthesize information (ASPH,Recommended Critical Component Elements of an Undergraduate Major in Public Health). To support this element ofundergraduate education in public health, the PSU Library and the School of Community Health will plan and implement a digitalbadge system to assess, track, and certify undergraduate Health Studies students achievements in information literacy, or what theuniversity calls creativity and critical thinking. To this end, students will come away with certification of their creativity and criticalthinking skills, rather than leaving these accomplishments unrecognized. If this project proves successful, it could be extended toany numerous programs of study at PSU.

    Impact/SignificanceInformation and ideas pervade PSU students daily lives-- either on the Internet, in the news, via social channels, in class, and athome. Students need to be able to critically engage with and evaluate the information they read, see, and hear. Creativity andcritical thinking skills translate to student success in the classroom, in society, and in the workplace. Using a digital badge systemto creativity and critical thinking will enable students to take pride in their expertise, communicate with peers, professors, andpotential employers the skills that they bring to an environment or community.

    All students at PSU can benefit from the implementation of a digital badge system for creativity and critical thinking. Professors andinstructors in any unit will be able to integrate appropriate learning objects and competencies into their courses. It will allowinstructors to recognize the disparity in students critical thinking and information skills, enabling them to even the studentsproverbial playing field, and thereby enhancing students learning experiences.

    For students in the School of Community Health, creativity and critical thinking skills will be mapped to digital badges, which, inturn, will map to the schools undergraduate curriculum. In this way, each student will gain recognition for previously unrecognizedskills gained throughout their course of study. To this end, students will be able to:

    have fun learning,

    feel pride in their accomplishments,

    connect with expert peers and engage in informal peer mentoring surrounding creativity and critical thinking,

    identify their own gaps in creativity and critical thinking skills,

    fill in their identified gaps in creativity and critical thinking skills,

    be better prepared for workplace success in community health and health sciences fields,

    and highlight their skills set to future employers.

    When students clearly see and are recognized for what they learn, they are more apt to continue learning and to continue theircourse of study at PSU.

    Many Community Health students enter a career path to become Health Educators. The National Commission for Health EducationCredentialing (NCHEC) outlines seven Responsibilities and Competencies for Health Education Specialists, each of which includesinformation literacy and critical thinking skills. Public Health students' abilities to become certified Health Educators relies on thedevelopment of creativity and critical thinking skills here at PSU.

    In 2011-2012 the PSU School of Community Health awarded 208 undergraduate degrees (OIRP, Student Statistical Portrait, 2011-2012). In fall 2012, there were a total of 1,020 declared undergraduate majors in Health Studies-- the third largest undergraduatemajor next to Biology and Psychology (OIRP, Fall Term Factbook, 2012). In its experimental beta phase, digital badges for creativityand critical thinking will reach all of these undergraduate Health Studies majors.

    The larger impact of digital badges for creativity and critical thinking will be enhanced student success in and outside theclassroom, better retention of Health Studies students, and better prepared graduates to enter into the community health andhealth studies workforce.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/education/edlife/show-me-your-badge.html?_r=0http://library.pdx.edu/media/libraryoutcomes.pdfhttp://www.asph.org/userfiles/CCE_2012-08-03-FINAL.pdfhttp://www.nchec.org/credentialing/responsibilities/http://www.oirp.pdx.edu/source/port1112/3_14_2.htmhttp://www.oirp.pdx.edu/source/fact12f/3_8_1.htm

  • Portland State reTHINK PSU | Digital Badges for Creativity and Critical Thinking

    http://www.rethink.pdx.edu/?q=node/139[3/26/13 11:09:31 AM]

    Approach and StrategyAs noted in this proposal and in the literature, the concept behind badge systems is to provide certification and acknowledgmentfor skills and competencies that go unrecognized via traditional credit-hour and degree programs. In order to implement a betatest of a digital badge system for creativity and critical thinking at PSU, the PSU Library will collaborate with the School ofCommunity Health to map these skills to the Health Studies curriculum.

    To that end, the Urban & Public Affairs Librarian will work with the Community Health Faculty and the School of Community HealthUndergraduate Curriculum Committee to map library learning outcomes to the Health Studies curriculum. Together, they willidentify needed creativity and critical thinking skills that will support student success during school and in the workforce; and theywill identify and develop the creativity and critical thinking skills badge curriculum. Potential badges addressing creativity andcritical thinking include:

    Information discovery

    Information evaluation

    Using and citing information appropriately

    Information research for health promotion

    Consumer health information

    Information research for health statistics

    Health information for Seniors

    Evaluating health science research

    In order to implement a creativity and critical thinking badge system the PSU Library and School of Community Health will need toidentify, assess, and procure a badge system. It should be noted that several experiments with digital badge systems already exist.Purdue Universitys Passport, a badge system in beta, is currently seeking partners to assist in its beta testing; and LearningTimes,an educational technology firm, offers the BadgeStack system. After acquiring a system for badges, the Librarian and CommunityHealth Faculty will create badges in the system, and deploy the badge system.

    Although the initial execution of a badge system for creativity and critical thinking will target students of Health Studies, it will beavailable to all students and faculty at PSU. Any student who would like to begin earning badges may do so. Moreover, any facultymember may use the badges in their course curriculum. If successful, the badge system will be deployed to accomplish any numberof certifications or to achieve any learning outcomes, or any number of certifiable and previously unrecognized skill.

    Throughout the process, collaborators will reflect and document successes and challenges using a badge system. They will use thesystem to assess student achievements in creativity and critical thinking, with an eye to make recommendations about a badgesystems future uses at PSU.

    MilestonesMarch 2013 - Award received

    June -July 2013 Participating community health courses and instructors identified; curriculum mapping complete; badge systemsfor testing identified

    August September 2013 Badge systems tested

    October 2013 Badge system chosen and purchased/licensed

    December 2013 Badge curriculum outline developed

    February 2014 Production of learning objects completed; D2L integration programming complete

    March 2014 Badges designed and staged for beta testing

    April-June 2014 Beta testing for badges and curriculum

    July 2014 Needed enhancements/changes identified in beta testing complete

    August 2014 Full system implementation and communication to OAA and other academic units

    Benefits

    http://www.itap.purdue.edu/studio/passport/http://www.learningtimes.com/what-we-do/badges/

  • Portland State reTHINK PSU | Digital Badges for Creativity and Critical Thinking

    http://www.rethink.pdx.edu/?q=node/139[3/26/13 11:09:31 AM]

    This proposal includes both short and long-term benefits for students, faculty, and PSU as a whole. Participating students will havefun learning, and as a result their engagement and student retention will increase. Students will be able to recognize, demonstrateand communicate acquired creativity and critical thinking skills with potential employers. This project will reach approximately1,020 undergraduate health studies majors. As other faculty members adopt digital badges for creativity and critical thinking intheir teaching, the number of students who benefit from this system will increase.

    Faculty, too, will see short and long-term benefits from this project. Integrating badges into the community health curriculum willallow approximately 20 FTE teaching faculty to recognize students' previous achievements and enable them to tailor theirinstruction to the skills needed by most students. Moreover, using digital badges will allow these faculty members to identifystruggling students, and reach out to assist them to become more successful in their coursework. In the long-term, faculty will beable to track student success, and provide instruction geared toward gaps in students' creativity and critical thinking skills.

    PSU as a whole will benefit from this beta test. Information gathered during this project can help PSU identify the benefits andchallenges of blending competency-based teaching and learning into its curriculum. It will allow PSU to decide whether and how itshould pursue this modality in the future. Finally, it will provide needed information regarding the challenges of assessing PSU'sproblematic Creativity and Critical Thinking learning outcome.

    Consequences

    If this proposal is not implemented PSU will not be positioned to explore digital badges as a tool to blend competency-basedteaching and learning into its curriculum. No other reTHINK proposal, to our knowledge, discusses implementing badge systems tocertify and assess student achievements. Digital Badges for Creativity and Critical Thinking as a beta test can provide a wealth ofinformation and experience to PSU as it moves forward to rethink its position and role in today's higher education landscape.

    Needs AssessmentDownload

    Inspiration Challenge OnlyDigital Badges for Creativity and Critical Thinking supports the following initiatives from PSU's portfolio:

    Support Early Identification of Students at Risk

    Badges allow for faculty to identify students at risk. Those who enter their courses without specific required badges will beeasy to identify

    Ease transition to college using Peer Mentoring

    In a digital badge system students will be able to identify expert peers. These peers would be able to reach out to students inneed, and likewise, students in need may be able to identify expert peers to approach for help.

    Make Studetn Success Data Available at Unit Level

    In addition to providing data regarding students at risk, a digital badge system for creativity and critical thinking in the Schoolof Community Health will enable the unit to track and assess student achievement for this learning outcome over the course oftime.

    Media

    http://www.rethink.pdx.edu/sites/default/files/badges_needsassessment_final.pdf

  • Portland State reTHINK PSU | Digital Badges for Creativity and Critical Thinking

    http://www.rethink.pdx.edu/?q=node/139[3/26/13 11:09:31 AM]

    TagsAssessment/ePortfolio, Credentialing, Proficiency Based Curriculum, Student Success, Undergraduate, Workforce Development, badge

    Comments

    Lisa Molinelli February 15, 2013 - 12:56pm

    An exciting, and super-current, way to add skill development, assessment, information literacy, and all other kinds of literacy in a fun andinteresting way.

    Rowanna Carpenter February 20, 2013 - 8:05am

    Implementing a system for badges could support students in Freshman and Sophomore Inquiry courses as they learn research skills. In fact, thiswould align nicely with the library modules proposed as part of General Education Online Pathways.

  • Portland State reTHINK PSU | Digital Badges for Creativity and Critical Thinking

    http://www.rethink.pdx.edu/?q=node/139[3/26/13 11:09:31 AM]

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