why bother? the road to a quality information literacy assessment study
TRANSCRIPT
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Why Bother? The Road To A Quality Information Literacy
Assessment Study
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Lyn LaVigne, M.A., M.L.I.S.Malka Schyndel, M.S.L.S.Darlene Ann Parrish, Ph.D.
Florida Atlantic University Libraries 2010
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Special thanks to Tony Scott Parrish, M.S. in M.I.S.,
Systems Administrator at FAU, for his technical assistance.
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Introduction Reference/instruction librarians from Florida Atlantic University (FAU) wanted to find out if their library sessions have a lasting impact on student research. For the first time, an effort was made to develop a model that could be used as a method of continuous assessment and improvement.
In partial preparation for a Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) re-accreditation visit, a committee of reference/instruction librarians developed a 15-item multiple choice questionnaire to measure what specific library research skills first semester freshman students enrolled in a Strategies for Learning Success (SLS 1503) class have prior to library instruction, and if there is any improvement after library instruction.
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Introduction (con.)
A pretest-post-test study design was used, and the pretest was administered prior to library instruction during a 50-minute on site scheduled library instructional session. The post-test, which was identical to the pretest, was administered at the end of the semester in the students’ regularly scheduled class location. Pretests and post-tests were administered to more than 300 students in a total of 22 SLS classes.
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Why is library assessment necessary?
• Accreditation purposes.• Fits into other parts of organization:
strategic plan, mission/vision, annual reports.
• Result of financial constraints and increased accountability.
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ASSESSMENT PROCESS FLOW CHART
Start with a strategic plan containing goals and objectives.
Develop self-studies to measure goals and objectives.
Analyze results, implement changes, and revise strategic plan.
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Problem Areas in Developing Information Literacy Studies
• Identification of what needs to be assessed (e.g. learning outcomes).
• Determination of population and sample size.
• Time-consuming nature of information literacy studies.
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Problems in Developing Information Literacy Studies
• Selection, creation and implementation of appropriate tools/methodologies.–Which assessment models are most
appropriate?–Are there models that already exist?–Do you need to create an in-house
one?• Interpretation and application of results.
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“Best Practices”
• The information literacy assessment study should be linked to the library’s strategic plan with goals and objectives.
• It is important to create a time line for any information literacy study.
• The purpose of the study should be clearly defined and agreed upon by all investigators at the beginning.
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“Best Practices”
• The principal investigator needs to keep the study on schedule.
• If a research methodology is created for a study, it will increase study time, but can be used for continuous assessment and improvement.
• Coordinators of library assessment need to have some formal training in applied or basic research.
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Phases of the SLS Information Literacy Study
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Study Design Phase
• December 2007 – Committee of reference/ instruction librarians began to meet.
• Spring 2008 – Committee began to create survey instrument for SLS study.
• September 2008 – Received Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval for SLS study.
• Fall 2008 - Pretested survey instrument using students working for the Library.
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Data Gathering Phase
• August-October 2009 – Administered pretests to 21 SLS classes in Library, before library instruction.
• November-December 2009 – Administered post-tests to 22 SLS classes during their regular class time.
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• March 2010 – Completed the scoring of individual student pretests and post-tests.
• March 2010 – Completed the data input in an Excel spreadsheet.
Test Scoring and Data Input Phase
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Data Analysis Phase
• March 2010 – Compared the mean for correct responses for pretests with post-tests to see if there was an improvement.
• April 2010 – Will create a report with recommendations for improvement.
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Results• Mean score was 9.46 for pretests and
10.10 for post-tests out of 15 possible correct responses, which is about a 6% improvement.
• Maximum number of correct responses for pretests and post-tests was 14, so there was no change.
• Minimum number of correct responses for pretests was 2 and increased to 3 for post-tests.
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Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15
PRETESTS 298 335 106 104 329 170 158 205 246 268 252 10 325 138 281
POST-TEST 291 317 171 102 316 191 183 196 263 271 246 17 306 134 287
25
75
125
175
225
275
325
375
SURVEY QUESTION TOTALS FOR PRE-TEST AND POST-TESTN
um
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f c
orr
ect
an
swer
s
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What have we learned?
• Individual course instructors could have positively impacted survey results:– Some instructors provided library
instruction prior to the library session.– Some instructors required knowledge of
library skills in order to complete assignments.
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What have we learned?
• Results showed that the SLS students who were surveyed did better on the pretests than expected.
• Results of study may indicate that “one time” library sessions, if not tied to an assignment, are less effective.
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What have we learned?
• Results lead to the assumption that instructors/professors whose students have a “need to know” in order to complete assignments benefit more from library instruction.
• Students are more motivated to learn library skills when a library instructional session is tied to a meaningful assignment.
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Where do we go from here?• This study will be used as a baseline for
future assessment studies in information literacy.
• Results of this study support the Library’s current direction of embedding librarians in course instruction.
• Assist course instructors/professors in their understanding of the importance of the relationship between information literacy and its impact on student learning.
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Where do we go from here?• Compare results of the SLS study with
a current ENC 1102 (Freshmen English) study that is using the same design and survey instrument.
• The comparison of the SLS and ENC studies may help to determine if project based library instruction is measurably more effective.
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Where do we go from here?• Recommendations will be made to
continue supporting the SLS classes with library instruction.
• The emphasis will be on embedding librarians in course instruction, which would include the planning of course assignments.
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