VALUE-ing Information Literacy: Developing a Community of Practitioners

through Assessment

Mary C. MacDonald, Jim Kinnie, and Elaine Finan

Project funded by: Davis Educational Foundation, 2010 Wabash 2.0 Study

Introduction

Scope of IL on URI Campus Library IL Programs; scaffolded & incremental Academic Majors w/SLOs of Information Literacy focus

Curricular Framework: URI outcomes: Think critically, independently, take initiative

based on informed choices. Gen Ed Information Literacy student learning outcome

“Are URI students achieving information literacycompetency over the span of an

undergraduate program?”

URI’s project

Share the process

What ways can you duplicate

this process on

your campus?

Introduction

Take-Aways

At the end of this session, you will learn how to:

Adopt a model for building faculty collaboration around assessment

Adapt a process that is transferable and expandable

Identify opportunities for applying an information literacy (IL) rubric and engage multiple disciplines

Overview

Collaborators Practitioners Evaluators

“Are URI students achieving information literacy

competency over the span of their

undergraduate program?”

Community of Practitioners

Commitment over four years

Thirteen faculty

Librarians

National information literacy assessment expert

Assessment Office (SLOAA)

Instructional Development Program (IDP)

Collaborating

Create a shared understanding before measuring for student learning

ACRL Five IL Standards: • Determine information needs • Access needed information• Evaluate information sources• Use information to accomplish a specific purpose• Use information legally

American Association of Colleges & Universities IL VALUE rubric framework

Collaborating

Rubric development, 2008-2012

Preparation:

Campus wide rubric workshop – 3 librarians Library faculty, subject faculty, national expert, SLOAA Librarians, SLOAA, IDP

Developmental scale for IL Competency Beginning, Approaching, Competent

Collaborating

ResearchAnalyze/

Evaluate

Synthesize/

Integrate

Plagiarism Information Literacy

Let’s Collaborate!

 URI Information Literacy (IL) Rubric*

IL Outcomes IL Competent Approaches IL Competency

Beginning IL Competency

(5A) Uses Information Ethically and Legally - Knows when to cite

(5B) Uses Information Ethically and Legally - Knows when and how to paraphrase

(5C) Uses Information Ethically and Legally- Mechanics of citations are correct

*Adapted from the AAC&U VALUE rubric

Report out – what did you find?

Easy/

Challenging?

Barriers?

Surprises?

Practicing

Created a URI-Librarian approved IL rubric Pilot – 2 phases “Library-Friendly” Faculty from 4 of 7 colleges

History, Sociology, Public Relation, Writing & Rhetoric, Business, Pharmacy, Library (undergraduate), and Natural Resources Science

442 students evaluated – at least one element Instructors mapped rubric elements to assignments Applied rubric to student work

Evaluating

Combined Results F2011, S2012

Evaluating

Combined Results F2011, S2012No IL courses

Challenges

Multiple disciplines & programs to consider in

consensus-building

Busy faculty Language used in the assignments is key

Rewards

Student-centric

Student/Instructor Comparison

Student/Instructor Comparison

Student/Instructor Comparison

Rewards

Student-centric

Experience in building

consensus to define key

skills

Discipline-neutral

discussions about learning and teaching

Used results to refine rubric

Develop faculty resources and

workshops

Expand online student

resources

Next Steps

Expand project into assessment of IL as a general education learning outcome.

Replicate assessment process to evaluate other student learning outcomes.

Continue collaboration and assessment

across disciplines.

Questions/Comments?

American Association of Colleges and Universities. (2013). VALUE: Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education. Retrieved from www.aacu.org/value/rubrics/ April 22, 2013.

American Library Association. (2006). Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency April 22, 2013.

University of Rhode Island. (2012). University Catalog 2012. Retrieved from http://web.uri.edu/catalog/student-learning-outcomes/ April 18, 2013.

  University of Rhode Island. (2013). General Education Application - Integrated Skills.

Retrieved from http://www.uri.edu/facsen/gen_app/skills.html April 18, 2013.   University of Rhode Island Libraries. (2006). Mission Statement. Retrieved from

http://www.uri.edu/library/univlibs/mission.html April 21, 2013.

References