If It’s Worth Teaching, It’s Worth Finding Out Whether They Learned It! NEFLIN Assessment Basics for Library Instruction Wednesday, March 7, 2012 10 AM-12 PM Both

Contact Information Susan Ariew sariew@usf.edu Drew Smith dsmith@usf.edu Both

TELL US ABOUT You Academic librarian? School librarian? Public librarian? Other? Large or small institution? Your title/function/primary role(s)? Drew

Objectives For Today Be able to classify and analyze assessments. Exchange ideas about designing and using assessments. Drew

WHY ASSESS? To improve or evaluate: Student attitudes Student learning Teaching skills The effectiveness of a specific activity or teaching method A library’s instructional program A library’s services Drew

Audiences The student The librarian (self) The instructor Other librarians Coordinator of library instruction Library administration Accrediting bodies Others Susie

Types of Assessment of Student Learning Formative assessment Summative assessment Recommendations for improvement Susie

Formative Assessment Evaluation designed, done, and intended to support the process of improvement. The purpose of formative assessment is to improve the quality of student learning.

EXAMPLES of Formative Assessments Students’ (non-graded) performance on tasks and assignments in or outside of class (use of clickers, worksheets, etc.) Student surveys (attitude or perceptions) Faculty feedback about student performance See Thomas A. Angelo and K. Patricia Cross’s Classroom Assessment Techniques Susie

Summative Assessment Provides evidence for evaluation or grading of learner’s performance. Good summative assessments—tests and other graded evaluations—must be demonstrably reliable, valid, and free of bias. They must take into account student anxiety, cheating, and issues of fairness. Susie

EXAMPLES of Summative ASSESSMENTS Pretests, post-tests Quizzes Worksheets completed for a grade Library assignment integrated into course assignments (part of a course portfolio) that is graded by instructors/librarians Susie

FORMATIVE OR SUMMATIVE? Susie What is being assessed? Advantages of this assessment? Disadvantages?

FORMATIVE OR SUMMATIVE? What is being assessed? Advantages of this assessment? Disadvantages?

Link between Assessment & Instructional Design Using basic ID principles focuses on what the learner will be able to do as a result of instruction Facilitates effective assessment Helps you know where you are going Susie

It helps to know your learners Learner analysis Who your learners are, what motivates them, why they may be reluctant to learn, etc. Instructional decisions are then based on what we know about student characteristics and their informational needs Susie

Analysis of Informational Needs and Learner analysis What are your students’ information needs? Have they had library instruction before? If so, what do they know and what don’t they know? How can you find out? How can you provide relevant material? Susie

How DO YOU KNOW Your Learners? Type into the chat box any activities that you engage in to learn about students before you do a library instruction session. Susie

Designing—Objectives and Outcomes Assessments What are my objectives for this session? What changes in thinking or performance do I want to occur? How will I know if changes occurred? What types of assessments (either formative or summative) will I use to determine if students have learned anything? Drew

Goals vs. Objectives Goals are general statements of intent (for example, students will identify research needs). Some instructors use “guiding questions” instead of goals. Objectives are intentions that focus on specific activity (for example, the student will be able to locate electronic journals articles related to his or her topic). Drew

Objectives Communicate expectations for student learning. Examine the types of learning desired. Determine your instructional sequence and planning. Drew

CREATING Objectives An instructional objective is a statement of what students are intended to learn as a result of instruction. Objectives need to describe the behavior that the learner will exhibit (using action verbs). Drew

Types of Action Verbs Application Verbs: find, change, demonstrate, discover, operate, predict, produce, use, solve, show, relate Analysis Verbs: differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, debate, illustrate, point out, relate, select (Carr-Chellman, 30) Drew

Example 1 “Students will look at citation management tools (RefWorks, etc).” Is this a clearly worded learning objective? Does it describe what the student will do? Based on your experience, what are some other ways this could be worded? Type your responses into the chat box. Drew

Example 2 “The student will be able to identify journal articles that have empirical studies.” Is this a clearly worded learning objective? Does it describe what the student will do? Based on your experience, what are some other ways this could be worded? Type your responses into the chat box. Drew

Development & Implementation Develop instructional strategies Create instructional materials (handouts, PowerPoints, multimedia, etc.) Implement Assess Drew

Fitting the Assessment to the OBJECTIVES What is the objective? What kind of assessment will tell me whether or not I am meeting the objective? Drew

EXAMPLE: MUDDIEST POINT “What was the muddiest point from the session today?” Drew

EXAMPLE: QUIZ The purpose of this survey is to help you determine your strengths and deficiencies in the area of Information Literacy.   1. a. True or b. False -- Newsweek is a scholarly journal. 2. a. True or b. False -- If a website has “.edu” in its address, it is considered a good source for information. a. True or b. False -- The purpose of a bibliographic citation is to give the information one would need to retrieve the item. Source: Information Literacy Survey, Pontious Learning Resource Center, Warner University Susie

Questions/Final Comments For Further Resources & Reading see: http://guides.lib.usf.edu/learning-assessment Both