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Determining the Most Appropriate Type(s) of Assessment in Library Instruction

This article explores the challenges and considerations in assessing library instruction sessions and provides suggestions for different assessment methods.

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Determining the Most Appropriate Type(s) of Assessment in Library Instruction

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  1. Determining the Most Appropriate Type(s) of Assessment in Library Instruction Bonnie L. Fong, Physical Sciences Librarian, Rutgers-Newark bonnie.fong@rutgers.edu VALE / NJ ACRL / NJLA CUS 14th Annual Users' ConferenceFriday, January 4, 2013

  2. Assessment

  3. Assessment Difficulties • Many possibilities to consider • Many factors to consider Who, What, When, Where, Why, How

  4. Why Assess • For someone else? • College/university • Academic department • Professor • Library • For ourselves? • What are we trying to accomplish?

  5. What to Assess • Evaluation of library instruction session: • Students (e.g., useful, confusing, enjoyable) • Professor (e.g., fitting, effect on assignments) • Librarian (e.g., timing, activities that worked) • Students’ information literacy skills: • Objective knowledge • Higher-order thinking • Application of knowledge (e.g., paper) • Assessment tool

  6. How to Assess Sessions • Student self-evaluation • Typical one-minute paper: • Questions: • What did you learn today? • Is there anything that is still confusing? • Distribution? • Paper / index card • Online • Quick • Self-reflective

  7. How to Assess Sessions • Student self-evaluation • My modified version (for one-shot sessions): • Did you learn something new? • Do you think the session has helped you with doing the kind of research your ENG 102 assignment requires? • What did you find most helpful about this session? • What would you have liked more of? • What would you have liked less of? • Additional Comments

  8. How to Assess Sessions • Student self-evaluation • Survey in a science writing-intensive course: • Did you find our discussion on XYZ helpful? • Yes, I found it very helpful and used it for my assignment(s). • Yes, it was helpful, but I did not wind up using it for my assignment(s). • No, it was not helpful - I found it unclear. • N/A - I already knew everything that was discussed. • N/A - I was not in class that day. • Which of the Reserve items did you use? • Did you find the “Reserve items” handout helpful?

  9. How to Assess Sessions • Student self-evaluation • Survey for graduate students in mini-course: • After our mini-course, how confident are you about using the following (17) resources? • How often do you now use library resources, after our mini-course? • Did you find our mini-course helpful? • What did you find most helpful? • What would you have liked more of? • What suggestions do you have for improvement?

  10. How to Assess Sessions • Student self-evaluation • Survey in a mixed-enrollment seminar course: • Beginning & end: • How confident are you about doing/using the following? (24) • What are some of the challenges or difficulties you are still encountering when looking for or using information? • End: • How helpful do you think the library sessions were/will be for XYZ? • Which resources did you use to do complete your oral presentation project? • What was the most difficult part of the course?

  11. How to Assess Sessions • Professor evaluation • How did the library instruction session go? • Did I cover everything you were hoping I would? • Did anything seem unclear? • Might you have any suggestions for how I could improve the session? • How did the assignment(s) turn out? • Did student assignments indicate retained knowledge? • Did student assignments show improvement?

  12. How to Assess Sessions • Professor evaluation • When: • Right after library instruction session • Within a week after library instruction session • After the end of the semester • How: • In-person • E-mail • Survey

  13. How to Assess Sessions • Librarian (self-)evaluation • Observations during class: • Walking around during student work • Students’ faces – confusion / boredom • Student questions • Activities: • Effectiveness • Student interest • Timing

  14. Assessing Information Literacy • What are we trying to assess? • What are the learning objectives? • What is being taught? • When can we assess? • How can we measure skills/knowledge? • Identify appropriate type(s) of assessment • Develop / identify suitable assessment tool(s): • Content (e.g., test questions, assignments) • Device (e.g., software, hardware)

  15. How to Assess Info. Literacy • Objective knowledge: • True/False • Multiple choice • Choose all that apply • Matching • Matrix • Short answer completion

  16. How to Assess Info. Literacy • Higher-order thinking • Typically: • Essay • Long answer • Oral response • Student demonstration • Maybe: • True/False • Multiple choice • Choose all that apply

  17. Ex: Multiple Choice

  18. Ex: Choose All That Apply Choose all that apply: C3. Where should you look to find spectra (e.g., IR, NMR, UV) information? • CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics • PubMed • Reaxys • SciFinder • Web of Science

  19. Ex: Matrix / Likert Scale

  20. Ex: Short / Long Answer • Find all the items in SciFinder that’s been published in English by your assigned seminar speaker. • What is your search strategy? Please be specific. • Which section of SciFinder are you searching in? • What did you type in the search box? • If applicable, which of the “Author Name Candidates” did you choose? • Identify the one that was cited the most. • How many times was it cited? • Provide the citation in Nature formatting. • How many of the references are journal articles? • What has your assigned seminar speaker’s research focused on since 2007? How did you determine this? Please be specific. • Identify ONE person who has been doing research on the same topic as your assigned seminar speaker and might be considered a potential collaborator or competitor. This person cannot be someone s/he has co-written a paper with since 2007. How did you determine this (i.e., where did you look)?

  21. How to Assess Info. Literacy • Application of knowledge • In-class exercises • Evaluate assignment(s): • Annotated bibliographies • Papers • Posters • Oral presentations • Obstacles: • Permissions • Time

  22. Ex: Rubric / Checklist • Oral presentation:

  23. How to Assess Info. Literacy • Application of knowledge • Process: • Demonstration / record thought process • Search history • Journal • Reflection • Choices made • Obstacles: • Time • Permissions

  24. When to Assess Info. Literacy • Pre- & post session • During session • Pre-session: • Before session • At start of session • Post-session • At end of session • Shortly afterwards • Some time later

  25. Limitations to Assessment • No magic bullet • Different assessment tools for measuring different things • May need more than 1 method • General limitations: • Time • Resources • Some things are difficult to measure

  26. Notes • Suggested further reading: Radcliff, C. J., Jensen, M. L., Salem Jr., J. A., Burhanna, K. J., & Gedeon, J. A. (2007). A practical guide to information literacy assessment for academic librarians. Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited. • Unless otherwise noted, all images come from Microsoft Office’s clip art

  27. Questions? Thank you! bonnie.fong@rutgers.edu

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