Beyond the Sandbox: Student Scholarship, Digital Citizenship, and the Production of Knowledge

Abstract

Author(s): Miller, Char; Swift, Allegra K; Kramer, Anna; Hackenberger, Ben | Abstract: Scholarly communication is undergoing an ever accelerating evolution in how research and scholarship are being conducted, how scholarship is being disseminated, and who is included in the creation and communication of new knowledge. At the forefront of this evolution are libraries and academics who recognize that students are not only creating new knowledge that is valuable beyond the walls of the classroom but that there is a dire need to support and educate students and institutions about the impact of information sharing on a global scale. Students share and receive information on the internet with very little context and support for their roles as knowledge producers and global digital citizens.This chapter discusses how acting on these opportunities benefit the student well after graduation by inspiring citizens who are information-literate advocates for education, intellectual engagement, and science. The undergraduate who is trusted and supported as a public scholar can become a more empathetic and productive digital citizen. The authors; a scholarly communications librarian, a liberal arts professor, and an undergraduate alumna discuss and relate experiences of how addressing this educational opportunity through 1) classroom assignments, 2) instruction, and 3) publishing has created space for a deepened engagement with the affordances and challenges of being a public scholar and global citizen.