Information Literacy and Assessment:

1. Information Literacy and Assessment: The What, Why, Who, Where, When, and (most importantly) How

2. What is information literacy?It is the ability to “recognize when information is needed and …to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information”. American Library Association. (1989). Presidential Committee on Information Literacy: Final Report. Chicago: Author.

3. Why do we care? • Information is needed to succeed in an increasingly dynamic and fluid world • Information is readily available from an exponentially increasing number of sources • Information literacy forms the foundation for self-directed lifelong learning • Information literacy is the core of a liberal arts education

4. If it’s so important, what do we do about it? • Assess • Assess • Assess

5. Formative Assessment Conducted while the program, class, or performance is in progress Provides feedback used to modify, improve, or shape the experience Summative Assessment Conducted at specific points in time or at the conclusion of a program, class, or performance Provides a judgment about the quality of the experience in relation to some defined set of standards What is Assessment? Jones, E.A., & RiCharde, S. (2005). National Postsecondary Educational Cooperative sourcebook on assessment: Definitions and assessment methods for communication, leadership, information literacy, quantitative reasoning, and quantiative skills. Washington, D.C.: NPEC.

6. 5 Steps to Assessment • Develop statements of intended learning outcomes • Select appropriate measures • Evaluate findings to identify key improvements • Implement targeted changes • Begin again

7. Cognitive Outcomes* Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation Affective Outcomes+ Receiving Responding Valuing Organizing Characterizing Develop Statements of Intended Learning Outcomes +Krathwohl, D.R., Bloom, B.S., & Masia, B.B. (1964). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook 2:The affective domain. New York: McKay Publishing. *Bloom, B.S. (1959). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook 1:The cognitive domain. New York: McKay Publishing.

8. Direct Assessment Involves looking at actual samples of student work Requires standards of performance Advantage: Provides data directly measuring student achievement Indirect Assessment Involves obtaining opinions or thoughts about student work Explicit standards are not necessary Advantage: Easy to administer and useful for gathering information about values and beliefs Selecting Appropriate Measures

9. Language Courses On the final for every language class, students translate novel passages. Each translation is reviewed by at least two foreign language faculty using the same scoring guide for each class. As they accumulate student translations from year to year, the faculty are able to measure the improvement in the translations that individual students did in their first and second year language courses. Math Courses The math program developed six outcomes for intermediate algebra and eight outcomes for college algebra. A portion of the final exam in each class includes common problems that directly measure the students’ ability to perform the outcome. Examples of Direct Assessment Activities* * All examples of direct assessment activities are adapted from the Community College of Aurora’s Assessment web site: www.ccaurora.edu/assessment

10. Disciplinary Capstone Course Each year, 20% of the papers submitted by students in a program capstone course are randomly selected for assessment and sent to a panel of outside evaluators. Evaluators write comments about the overall quality of the sample, and then select 10 papers to discuss in depth. The evaluators determine the extent to which these 10 reflect the achievement of previously selected learning goals, and score them according to the program’s guidelines. Management/Marketing Course Students develop a marketing plan for a product and present it to faculty while being videotaped. Local marketing professionals join faculty in developing guidelines by which to assess the presentations. The assessors divide in pairs, with each pair separately scoring a subset of the presentations. If the two scorers reach different conclusions about a presentation, it is sent to a third reviewer. Examples of Direct Assessment Activities

11. Examples of Indirect Assessment Activities • Surveys of student perceptions of learning • Surveys of student satisfaction • Focus groups • Exit interviews • Examination of graduation rates • Grade analysis

12. Specific Example from Information Literacy Standards • Standard 1: The information literate student determines the nature and extent of the information needed. • Performance Indicator 2: The information literate student identifies a variety of types and formats of potential sources for information. • Outcome c: The information literate student identifies the value and differences of potential resources in a variety of formats.