Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies News

Innovation Hub Grant Helps Libraries Faculty Create New “University to Workplace Information Strategies” Course

February 21st, 2023

This article first appeared in the February 2023 edition of Libraries’ Research Highlight newsletter.

With project funding from the Purdue Innovation Hub, Libraries faculty Heather Howard, Margaret Phillips (project-PI), and Dave Zwicky, with Professor Fred Berry (PPI, School of Engineering Technology), have spent several months hard at work creating a series of information modules, packaged into a new Brightspace course titled “University to Workplace Information Strategies.” The best part about the team’s innovative approach is that these new modules are designed to be foundational, not discipline specific, and can be used independent of one another, providing instructors the flexibility to further develop higher level lessons and assignments relevant to their own discipline and students’ needs.

“The series has a “workplace” focus,” Phillips said, “and we think this will result in graduates who are better prepared for the information demands of today’s workplace environments.” In developing the module content, the team consulted industry leaders with ongoing interest in hiring Purdue graduates, a local entrepreneurship expert, faculty from the Purdue Polytechnic Institute, the Krannert School of Management, and Purdue undergraduate students. “The video modules are also being used at two multinational companies who hire Purdue students to train new hires,” Phillips added, indicating their usefulness to industry.

Students who complete a module earn a digital badge that can be shared with potential employers on their résumés, and through badge compliant platforms like LinkedIn. “In our pilot phase, we integrated the modules into a senior level PPI course and a first year business management course with success,” Phillips said. “We have awarded nearly 1,000 badges to Purdue undergraduate students to date.”

The series currently includes five modules on the following topics:

• Information Gathering
• Competitive Intelligence
• Patents
• Industry Standards
• Informed Communication

Each module consists of 6–10 videos, each 3–5 minutes in length, plus short quizzes. Students who watch each video and complete each quiz earn a badge in Brightspace. More information, including sample videos and the ability to sign up for the Brightspace course, is available on the project website: https://sites.lib.purdue.edu/workplaceil/index.php.