University Libraries at Virginia Tech (UL at VT) has long supported students and faculty with a variety of formal, informal, or co-curricular undergraduate research (UR) training. Virginia Tech (VT) is a research-intensive (R1), land-grant institution with students participating in research projects across the university and beyond. Librarians at VT began to notice that multiple librarians were receiving similar instruction requests for sessions in support of UR experiences, including topics on bibliographic research, citation and data management, and poster design. In 2014, UL at VT launched the Advanced Research Skills Program (ARS) as a way to make the offering of research literacy training sustainable. Originally, the program was offered  via in-person workshops and is chronicled in the chapter “Impact Outside the Classroom: Preparing Undergraduate Researchers for Success” (Becksford et al., 2017). While the in-person version of ARS was initially quite successful, attendance dropped significantly during the 2018-19 academic year, even though there was strong interest from students.  

To address the attendance issue, ARS was moved online. The benefits of this were abundantly clear when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. UL collaborated with the Office of Undergraduate Research and others across the university to create a fully online summer undergraduate research program with ARS an integral aspect of the program. Students across the world would be facing the challenge of canceled experiences. A decision was made to completely open the program to any student interested, which turned out to be hugely successful. During the 2020-21 academic year, students from 26 unique institutions and 2 high schools participated and during the 2021-22 academic year, students from 45 unique institutions and 2 high schools participated. With students actively participating from local, regional, national, and international institutions, the reach and impact of ARS are ever growing. 

From the pandemic, it has become clear that being able to offer instructional experiences in person or online is ideal. Moving ARS online helped make UR training manageable during unmanageable times. The goal of this post is to introduce librarians, especially those who support undergraduate students in STEM areas that may be conducting formal research experiences, to resources that they can use or adapt in order to offer workshops in person or online on topics students often need research literacy training in order to be successful. This post will: 

• Highlight Odyssey, a learning objects and educational resource repository, and the undergraduate research collection housed within it 
• Link to the ARS program library guide, which can be copied or adapted
• Discuss digital credentialing and the value of pathways to guide and award student participation 

Learning Objects and Educational Resources Repository

Odyssey is University Libraries’ learning objects and educational resource repository. Librarians individually and collaboratively create a variety of resources, such as lesson plans and handouts, which can be used as is or adapted as needed with attribution, as most objects have Creative Commons (CC) licenses. 

While Odyssey contains objects on a variety of topics and subjects, all of the videos and handouts created for ARS to be offered online are housed in the repository within the Undergraduate Research Object Collection. Items in this collection are highly viewed: Introduction to Data Ethics has 15,270 views from around the world including the Philippines and Singapore and Introduction to File Management has 11,104 views from places like India, Zimbabwe, and Papua New Guinea. 

LibGuide Describing ARS Program and Registration 

Librarians interested in offering similar UR training and workshops can view and even make a copy of the program’s library guide, which also includes a flyer that can be used for marketing the program. The guide is updated each November for the upcoming Spring and Summer semesters and includes titles and brief descriptions of each workshop. 

Digital Credentialing of Workshops

To reward students for completing single workshops or the program as a whole, digital badges were awarded for completion of each workshop module and a program badge was awarded for completion of the entire program. All workshops are completed in Canvas, the VT’s learning management system. Badges are also awarded in Canvas. Students can view the ARS Pathway to see their progress within the program. For the students, badges serve as a digital certificate of completion in which others can read about what the badge signifies and the earning criteria needed. Badges can be included on email signatures, in resumes, and on a LinkedIn profile, which provides students evidence of completion. 

Librarians interested in learning more about the ARS training program for UR students at VT can contact the author. ARS Research program badge details and descriptions can be found here. 

A forthcoming chapter detailing this work titled “Connected, integrated, extended: How digital credentialing and programmatic design enhanced and empowered a co-curricular research skills program” in Undergraduate Research and the Academic Librarian, Volume 2 expected in spring 2022. The chapter will cover the transition to online instruction, from the development of learning objectives and formal assessments through completion rates and student feedback. Best practices are also shared, which should guide librarians interested in providing this type of training to students. 

Resources

Lisa Becksford, Kyrille Goldbeck DeBose, and Carolyn Meier, “Impact Outside the Classroom: Preparing Undergraduate Researchers for Success,” in Undergraduate Research and the Academic Librarian: Case Studies and Best Practices, 1st ed. (Association of College and Research Libraries, 2017), 173–79.

Amanda MacDonald, Interim Library Head, Virginia Tech Carilion, School of Medicine

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