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Creating Avenues:

Partnerships in a Changing Library Environment

Frostburg State University

Katherine Jenkins & Judith Pula

Lewis J. Ort Library & Department of English

Agenda

1. Mandates 1. Mandates

2. Assessment 2. Assessment

3. Partnerships 3. Partnerships

4. Tips and Lessons Learned 4. Tips and Lessons Learned

5. Q & A 5. Q & A

Assessment Mandates

BackgroundBackground Your UniversityYour University Frostburg State University

Frostburg State University

Regional accrediting body

Regents

Academic program accreditors

Middle States

Maryland Higher Education Commission

University System of Maryland

Academic program accreditors (NCATE)

Current push for accountability triggered by legislatures wanting to see return on the dollar.

Mandates

Mandates Mandates

Next Step

How to get thereHow to get there

Read mission statement for your university and for your library

Create learning goals for session or for program overall

Read ACRL’s information literacy standards

Get backgroundGet background

To learn more about assessment, read Regional Accreditation and Student Learning

Develop assessment tools

Determine benchmarks

Your CampusYour Campus

Define learning outcomes

Determine stakeholders

Regional Commissions

Six regional commissions accredit over 3500 institutions.

Guided by the Council of Regional Accrediting Commissions.

Regional Accrediting Bodies

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

FL, DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA, PR, VI http://www.msche.org/ Standard 11: Educational Offerings Standard 12: General Education Standard 14: Assessment of Student Learning New edition of the Characteristics of Excellence in Higher

Education was implemented in 2003

AK, ID, MT, NV, OR, UT, WA http://www.nwccu.org/ Standard 2:Educational Program and its Effectiveness Standard 5: Library and Information Resources Lists specific types of documentation which are required

AR, AZ, CO, IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, OK, NM, SD, WI, WV, WY

http://www.ncahigherlearningcommission.org/ Criterion 3: Student learning and effective teaching Lists examples for documentation

Regional Accrediting Bodies (cont’d)

New England Association of Schools and Colleges

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools

Western Association of Schools and Colleges

CT, ME, MA, RI, VT http://www.neasc.org/cihe/cihe.htm Standard 4: The Academic Program Standard 7: Library and Other Information Resources New accreditation standards effective 1/2006

AL, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, TX, VA http://www.sacscoc.org/ Core requirement 2.12: Quality Enhancement Plan Comprehensive Standard 3.8: Library and Other Learning

Resources Provides report from Council of Regional Accrediting

Commissions about assessment of student learning

CA, HI, and Pacific Basin region http://www.wascweb.org/ Standard 2: Achieving Educational Objectives through

Core Functions. Lists questions about student learning; helpful link on

assessment

Middle States Standard 11

Educational Offerings The institution’s educational offerings display academic content,

rigor, and coherence that are appropriate to its higher education mission. The institution identifies student learning goals and objectives, including knowledge and skills, for its educational offerings.

Fundamental Elements—

program goals that are stated in terms of student learning outcomes;…

collaboration between professional library staff and faculty in teaching and fostering information literacy skills relevant to the curriculum;

programs that promote student use of information and learning resources;…

Source: Middle States Commission. (2002). Characteristics of excellence in higher education.

Middle States Standard 12

General Education The institution’s curricula are designed so that students

acquire and demonstrate college-level proficiency in general education and essential skills, including oral and written communication, scientific and quantitative reasoning, critical analysis and reasoning, technological competency, and information literacy.

Fundamental Element—

…assessment of general education outcomes within the institution’s overall plan for assessing student learning, and evidence that such assessment results are utilized for curricular improvement.

Source: Middle States Commission. (2002).

Characteristics of excellence in higher education.

Middle States Standard 14

Assessment of Student Learning Assessment of student learning demonstrates that,

at graduation, the institution’s students have knowledge, skills and competencies consistent with institutional and appropriate higher education goals.

Fundamental Element — …a documented, organized, and sustained assessment

process to evaluate and improve student learning that meets the following criteria:

• …direct evidence of student learning…

Source: Middle States Commission. (2002).

Characteristics of excellence in higher education.

FSU’s Accountability Cycle

Learn fromLearn from resultsresults

President’s President’s CabinetCabinet

Deans’ Deans’ CouncilCouncil

Student Learning Student Learning Advisory Advisory

GroupGroup

Provide Provide evidenceevidence

Assessment review at

Frostburg State University

Evidence shared with external state agencies Middle States Commission

Institutional Institutional Assessment Assessment CommitteeCommittee

Assessment

Assessment Assessment

Information Literacy

Frostburg State Library Student Learning Goals Students will-- frame a research question and identify main concepts and

corresponding keywords that can be used during the search process.

learn to understand the differences among information sources. learn to use catalog USMAI (the online catalog of the University

System of Maryland and Affiliated Institutions) to identify appropriate books and items within the library and the University system.

learn to use Research Port to identify and find appropriate articles for their research.

learn to efficiently and effectively access information and identify credible sources, including information from the World Wide Web.

understand that there are different documentation styles for citing sources.

Instruction: Assessment

Formative

researchexercises

guided practice questions

Summative

short survey

ORIE survey

freshman compositionsurvey (all sections)

Direct

survey

shortassignment(applying their skills)

Indirect

studentself-report

Partnerships

Partnerships Partnerships

Freshman Composition Partnerships

Freshman composition sessions with collaborating faculty.

Experience was new for faculty.Librarian took faculty member to lunch to

discuss and plan the session.Librarian drafted an outline and session

handouts to send to faculty for feedback.

Assignments

Library Tools assignment

In 250 to 500 words, evaluate the presentation on library tools. For instance--but not necessarily--consider the presenter, the style of presentation, the kinds of tools to which you were introduced, tools which you didn't know about but which seem valuable in the light of your past efforts to use the library, and so forth. In addition, distinguish between scholarly and popular sources.

Annotated Bibliography assignment

Assessment Cycle

Use the results

Establish learning

goals

Provide learning

opportunities

Assess student learning

Text

Assessment as a Four Step Continuous Cycle

Source: Suskie, L. (2004). Assessing student learning: A common sense guide.

Tips and Lessons Learned

Tips and Lessons Learned Tips and Lessons Learned

Tips

Start small

Create assessment binder

Assess by sample size

Participate in an assessment e-seminar

Review ACRL Info Literacy standards

Join listservs: tlt-swg, ili, assess

Check out ACRL’s IL webpage

Findings and Lessons Learned

Collaborate with faculty in greater numbers. Conduct pre-test and post-test. Reinforce learning concepts across disciplines. Refine either the handouts or the instruction. Refine the information literacy assessment

process for freshman composition before developing and assessing information fluency standards for upper-level classes.

Assessment Alternatives

Project SAILSTests students based on ACRL’s information literacy competency standards. Cost: $3 per student up to $2,000.

Website: Projectsails.org Email: sails@kent.edu

TLT-The Teaching, Learning, and Technology Group. Assessment tools are available. Some resources are free, while other resources are by subscription.

Website: tlcgroup.org Email:infor@tlt.org

National Survey of Student Engagement- Web and paper version. Note: Different levels of assessment. Sampling fee dependent on enrollment.

Website: nsse.iub.edu/index.cfm Email: nsse@indiana.edu

Further Research

Conduct study about assessment experience from several institutions from each regional accrediting body.

Conduct a longitudinal study of freshman composition (5-10 years) to see whether there is a significant increase in information literacy as a result of instruction.

Question & Answer

Q & A Q & A

Questions?

For more information:

Katherine JenkinsLewis J. Ort Library

kjenkins2@frostburg.edu

Judith PulaDepartment of English

jpula@frostburg.edu