NELIG Annual Program 2007
Demystifying Assessment: Evaluating Student Learning

Morning Program

Student Learning Assessment: An Interactive Exploration
Megan Oakleaf - Assistant Professor, School of Information Studies, Syracuse University

Spurred by the need to improve instructional programs and meet institutional expectations, teaching librarians face the challenge of assessing student learning.  This presentation addresses four questions: 
1) Why should I assess student learning? 
2) What challenges will I face? 
3) What assessment tools are available? 
4) Which one should I use? 
Come prepared to dissect test questions, construct rubrics, and identify performance assessment opportunities.
 

Afternoon breakout sessions (choose one):

Aiming for Assessment: Notes from a Pilot Information Literacy Course Assessment Project
Joanna Burkhardt, Amanda Izenstark, and Peter Larsen, University of Rhode Island

In Fall 2006, the University of Rhode Island (URI) Libraries used a revised version of the Bay Area Community Colleges Information Competency Exam to assess the overall understanding of information literacy concepts of students finishing LIB 120 "Introduction to Information Literacy," the 3-credit full-semester course on library use and research methods taught at URI.  Our panel will describe the particular test instrument used at URI, issues surrounding its implementation (including use of course management software to simplify the process), early results, and future plans.  Perhaps most importantly, we will offer a sense of how the test instrument (or one like it) could be used to serve other institutions' assessment needs. We'll describe the steps of administering and analyzing the test, provide suggestions on how the assessment project could be adapted to institutions with different resources, and answer your questions about the project.  This session targets librarians teaching information literacy in partial or full-semester courses, but this tool can also be used in other extended instruction programs.
 

Assessing Student Learning from an Information Literacy Program
Mott Linn, Coordinator of Archives and Special Collections, Clark University and Rukmal Harvey, Education Resources Library Assistant,  Salem State College

This workshop will review a multi-faceted assessment of an information literacy program.   The presenters will examine each of the three research methods that they used: a survey, interviews, and an analysis of the bibliographies of student papers.  This workshop will not only consider the assessment of an information literacy program, but also include a discussion of how to judge the quality of the sources that students cite.  Given the importance of the quality of the citations in students' papers, this session will be useful to anybody who wants to assess instruction sessions that teach how to conduct research for a paper.  Those who attend will learn the benefits of using multiple methods of assessment, as well as how each of these three techniques can be employed. 

 
Information Literacy Assessment with Art History Classes at Framingham State College
Sandra Rothenberg, Reference / Instruction Librarian, Framingham State College
 
In 2002 and 2003, the presenter worked with two art history classes at Framingham State College concerning information literacy assessment. The classes, one a Seminar in Women and Art and another on Renaissance Art both were upper level classes with a variety of skill levels doing advanced library research in art history.  The goal of the assessment was to investigate how much the students knew about doing advanced library research in this field, and to then teach to the deficiencies in their knowledge, as well as to see if the library instruction did in fact, improve their research skills.
 

            Second afternoon session:

The Self-Confidence of First-Years: The Gap between Students'  Perceived and Measured Information Literacy Skills
Judith Montgomery, Elizabeth Reilly, and Carr Ross (Bowdoin College)

First year students at Bowdoin report a high level of confidence in their IL skills. But a recently administered test shows that there is a gap between students' perceptions and their actual skills. Carr, Elizabeth and Judy will discuss the development and administration of an information literacy test, present test results and how they compare with survey results on students' perceived level of confidence in information literacy skills, plans for improving the test, and ways that we are using the results to advocate for improved library instruction for first years.