presented by touro college libraries sara tabaei , information literacy director
DESCRIPTION
Presented by Touro College Libraries Sara Tabaei , Information Literacy Director Bashe Simon, Director of Touro Libraries Committee on Outcomes Assessment March 10, 2011. ACRL Standards. Touro General Education Goals adapted from ACRL Standards. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Assessment of Information Literacy
Presented by
Touro College LibrariesSara Tabaei, Information Literacy Director Bashe Simon, Director of Touro Libraries Committee on Outcomes Assessment
March 10, 2011
Why is the library conducting assessment?
Assessment
Meaningful measure of
student learning
Strengthens our
instructional program
Accountability to Middle States
Focuses our
instructional
objectives
History of assessment in the library: Fall 2008
N= 91Project SAILS
• Library databases are different from the free internet sites
What was the most significant thing you
learned today?
• Search the library databases instead of going to Wikipedia and Google
What will you do differently in your research
process from now on?
What questions do you still have about the use of the
library?
History of assessment in the library: Fall 2008
One minute survey
History of assessment in the library continues …
We needed quantitative data and we
only had qualitative
data!
So we created a pre and a post test.
But our plan did not work out because only limited time is given
to the librarians!
History of assessment in the library
SAILS Pre and post tests Post-tests Post-testsFall 2008 Spring 2009 Fall 2009 Spring 2010
91
545
893
2241
Tests administered
The Current Post-test
3 indirect & 10 direct questions.
Has all its direct questions based on the Association of College and Research Libraries
(ACRL)information literacy competency standards for higher
education.
The ACRL standards are similar to the
objectives of the Information literacy goals in the General
Education statement of Touro College.
Information Literacy competencies
ACRL Standards
Determines the extent of
information needed
Accesses the needed
information effectively &
efficiently
Evaluates information
and its sources critically
Uses information effectively to accomplish a
specific purpose
Understands the economic, legal & social
issues surrounding
the use of information
Touro General Education Goals adapted from ACRL Standards
To develop, refine & focus a
topic
The ability to select
information from books, journals, the internet &
other media
Evaluate and apply
appropriate search
strategies
Appraise the quality of sources in terms of
reliability, bias, currency
& authority
Demonstrate awareness of legal & ethical considerations in the use of information
The Current Post-test
The post test is posted online via
Google Docs.
The responses go directly into an
excel sheet-- the results are
summarized instanteously.
Not all sites have computers for
their students—so we also give
the test in paper & pencil format.
The answers are analyzed and if
75% answer correctly, we
adjust or change the question.
Touro library sites administered post-tests in 2010N= 2241
Graduate SCAS LCM LCW LAS (Flat-bush)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
CAMPUS
Spring 2010Fall 2010
A reference book can be borrowed.
True False Unsure
A reference book can be borrowed N=2241
TRUE FALSE Unsure0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Resource RecognitionACRL standard#2
Spring
Fall
Wikipedia Cdc.gov Arthritis.com Unsure
From which of the following websites would you consider information on Arthritis to be most accurate?
From which of the following websites would you consider information on Arthritis to be most accurate? N= 2241
wikipedia.org cdc.govarthritis-symptom.com unsure0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Evaluating Sources ACRL #3 & GE #4
SpringFall
From which of the following websites would you consider information on Arthritis to be most accurate?
N= 341 LAS F
N=186 LCM
N= 366 LCW
N= 314 MIDTOWN
N= 196 STARRET
CITY
N= 67 TAINO
N= 95 SUNSET P
ARK
N= 287 BENSONHURST
0102030405060708090
Evaluating sourcesACRL#3 & GE objective#4
wikipediacdc.govarthritis.comunsure
Perc
enta
ge
In determining the reliability of an Internet site, you should look for:
The responsibility of
the siteUser friendliness A sentence or
paragraph stating that the
information is correct
Unsure
In determining the reliability of an Internet site, you should look for:
N= 341 LAS F
N=186 LCM
N= 366 LCW
N= 314 MIDTOWN
N= 196 STARRET
CITY
N= 67 TAINO
N= 95 SUNSET P
ARK
N= 287 BENSONHURST
01020304050607080
Evaluating sourcesGE objective #4
Responsibility of siteUser friendlyA sentence or pargraph stating the information is correctUnsurePe
rcen
tage
Which of the following is a characteristic of articles found in scholarly journals?
Contains glossy pictures
Provides the author’s opinion and viewpoint
Has a list of references Unsure
Which of the following is a characteristic of articles found in scholarly journals? N=2241
Contains glossy pictures
Provides the Author's opinion
Has list of ref-erences
Unsure0%
10%20%30%40%50%60%70%
Indentifying sourcesACRL standard #1
SpringFall
Which of the following is a characteristic of articles found in scholarly journals?
N= 341 LAS F
N=186 LCM
N= 366 LCW
N= 314 MIDTOWN
N= 196 STARRET
CITY
N= 67 TAINO
N= 95 SUNSET P
ARK
N= 287 BENSONHURST
0102030405060708090
100
Identifying sourcesGE objective #2
Contains glossy picturesprovides author's opinion or viewpointhas a list of referencesunsure
Perc
enta
ge
A recent study concluded that “women today eat about 300 calories more per day than women did in the 1970s—mostly from carbs”. Does this information need to be cited when you use it in your paper?
Yes, it needs to be cited
No, it does not need to be cited Unsure
A recent study concluded that “women today eat about 300 calories more per day than women did in the 1970s—mostly from carbs”. Does this information need to be cited when you use it in your paper? N=2241
Yes, it needs to be cited No, it does not need to be cited
Unsure0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Documenting SourcesACRL & GE #5
SpringFall
What did you learn today!Most interesting comments
“I wasn’t aware of the fact that we have books available on the touro website that are easily viewable and downloadable as well. there are many usefool tools to help conduct research and I will utilize it for future assignments.”
“I learnt more about the dangers of plagiarism and how I can be susceptible to it. “
“I learned how to use the system. I also learned if i'm writting something from another author how I suppose to do it to not be considerate as a stealer.”
“There is a lot of valuable information in the library in- service- I think that it should be part of a general orientation at the beginning of each semester for new students. “
Results and Recommendations
• The post tests appear to be reliable since the results are more or less consistent throughout the semesters.
• The post tests appear to have validity since we have based our questions on the ACRL information literacy standards.
• We will add more direct questions to strengthen the validity of the post test.
• We need to assess according to the grade levels of the students.
• For the most recent post test, we have added a question on whether English is their first language or their second.
Challenges!• The current post test is focusing on individual parts of a
concept.• Studies have shown that assessment of information literacy
skills are more accurate when linked to a contextualized problem or assignment.
• Currently we are testing short term skills and lower-level thinking skills.
• If information literacy testing becomes part of an assignment, we could test higher-level thinking skills, such as research skills.
Improvements
• We will add more questions to the post test to construct a more valid assessment tool.
• Embedded librarian in subject specific courses.
• Identify classes that could have information literacy skills incorporated through curriculum mapping of those courses.
• A general information literacy class for incoming freshmen and subject specific courses for upper divisions of undergraduate and/or graduate students based on the evidence of the post tests.
Contact Information
Sara Tabaei, MLIS, MAInformation Literacy Services Director
p: 212-463-0400 ext. 5233 email: [email protected]