Whitman Information Literacy Skills Certificate
This spring, Syracuse University Libraries, in partnership with Experiential Programs at the Whitman School of Management and Syracuse University’s Office of Microcredentials, launched the Whitman Information Literacy Skills Certificate and Digital Badge. While earning the certificate, Whitman undergraduate and graduate students develop core skills in information literacy, which is a crucial competency for academic pursuits, and one that employers also describe as being essential. The skills learned also connect to Syracuse University's Shared Competencies of Information Literacy and Technological Agility and Critical and Creative Thinking.
"For Whitman students, the certificate fills a meaningful gap between classroom learning and professional readiness,” says Assistant Director of Experiential Programs Roshawn Kershaw. “It increases a student's ability to find reliable information, assess its credibility, and apply it with confidence. This is important for a business environment increasingly shaped by excess data and AI content. It sets them apart from others before they even realize. The certificate is now available to both undergraduates and graduate students, which means it can meet Whitman students wherever they are in their academic journey, reinforcing skills that will serve them from their first internship to the boardroom."
To earn the certificate and digital badge, students take online self-paced tutorial modules that introduce them to key information literacy skills and library resources:
- Identifying Bias and Misinformation
- Types of Sources
- Evaluating Information
- Research as Process
- Search Basics, Part 1
- Search Basics, Part 2
- Syracuse Libraries Resources
- Student Guide to AI
“I am so excited to have these online tutorials become an official certificate and digital badge that is now available to both grads and undergrads,” says Librarian for Business, Management, and Entrepreneurship Steph McReynolds. “We’ve offered the tutorials as part of the IMPRESS program for years, and students have asked for a certificate to show employers their accomplishments in this area, and now we can provide that digital credential.”
Information Literacy Librarian Kelly Delevan sees this certificate as an excellent template for the development of information literacy badges for other schools and colleges at Syracuse University. The certificate is even serving as a model beyond SU, as a librarian from another university has recently reached out to use the certificate module categories at their own library.