It Takes a Community to Cultivate the Assessment Crop Kelly LaVoice, Kelee Pacion, and Mark Williams Cornell University May 2017

Cornell University Library 17 unit libraries Teach over 200 classes a semester (not including library credit-courses, roughly 18 of those + law)

PULSE Survey: Spring 2015 PULSE: perceptions of undergraduate life and student experiences Taken by 4, 892 students (36% response rate) Distributed online via a survey

PULSE Survey Results During the current academic year, how helpful have library classes and presentations been to you? Not very helpful Somewhat helpful Very helpful Not used Cornell 20.8% 22.0% 11.3% 45.9% 45.8% of responses said they did not use library classes or presentations So roughly 2475 students answered this question and said very helpful, somewhat helpful, or not very helpful Other peers, categorized as ivies or non ivies, averaged 16% for not helpful, so ours was higher. Others agreed 8% for very helpful, so we were higher. Not much deviation from freshman, sophomore, junior and senior.

Next Steps Heated discussions on the role of library instruction and the usage of surveys Data provided was not detailed or contextualized; usability challenges Potential for a mandate to assess Discussion Unsure of who was surveyed Unsure of what students interpret as helpful Unsure of the type of library class experiences students had Limited data provides challenges for seeking directions towards improvement

CATs Assessment Subteam of Instruction Committee 3 Librarians and an Assessment specialist Originated as a group to create Classroom Assessment Tools CATs struggled to gain traction Student survey catalyst to standardized, required assessment

Why Assessment For learning For teaching For accreditation For reflection For you!

Survey 1. What’s one new thing you learned today? 2. What’s still confusing about doing research for this course? 3. What’s one thing you’ll do differently in your research based on what you learned today? 4. This library instruction session will allow me to better complete assignments for this course Survey: only given in classes where instructors had a full class and there was a research assignment Only undergraduates Naming convention: course (school and level)

Survey 5. Was this library instruction session helpful? 6. Why or why not? 7. Have you attended a library instruction session or workshop with a Cornell librarian previously?

Fall 2015: Pilot Semester 25 instruction sessions 15 instructors 21 unique courses 15 instructors 359 student responses Colleges: A&S, CALS, and ILR Online distribution (Qualtrics)

Open ended questions Gaby coded

All show students thinking

What's one thing you'll do differently in your research based on what you learned today? “Narrow my results better.” “I have more options to find articles outside of Google / Google Scholar search!” “I can finally find scholarly articles our journals that can help.” “I'm really interested in downloading Zotero or some other program. It seems like it would be really helpful!” “I think in the future I will rely more heavily on analysis of primary sources; in the past, I used predominantly secondary sources but I learned it can be more valuable to offer original information.”

Results

Leading question- mirrors pulse survey

Why not helpful? “I felt like I knew almost everything covered” “I've done a lot of research papers in my time-- this is my 11th. Frankly, I'm sure this was extremely helpful for others, but this is old hat for me.” “I already know how to use databases and search on the library. It's not rocket science.” “I think that in future you should do this session when the students already have their assignment prompt or do a practice prompt from prior years.” “I'm also not sure if I'll remember the specific sites and how to access them.” Good implications: “not sure I’ll remember” implies something worth remembering 4. Lack of scaffolding here is also problematic

Feedback, Challenges, & Updates Admin mandates instructors try to do at least half of their courses Paper surveys? Work aggregating data together Results from 3 semesters of this survey differ substantially from original pulse survey

Spring 2016 Second iteration 25 of 200 courses surveyed 15 instructors 359 Student responses across 3 colleges

Fall 2016 28 unique courses 415 total students Data forthcoming

Challenges Motivating colleagues to participate Time involved in aggregating the data Changes in Library Administration Paper vs. online survey collection

Future and Opportunities to Adjust New University President New University Librarian Future Associate Librarian for Research and Learning Accreditation CTI

Benefits of Survey to Instructors Feedback on instruction Reevaluate and improve lesson plans Opportunity to engage with faculty Provide formative assessment to faculty, perhaps opening opportunities for additional class sessions or library support

Benefits to the Library Provide quantitative and qualitative data to show the value of library instruction Support accreditation efforts Image of the library as an active partner in teaching and learning Positive reception encourages additional courses Demonstrate alignment with University goals and standards

Questions?