1. 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

2. Contact Information
Susan Ariew
Drew Smith
Both

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

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

5. 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

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

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

8. 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.

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

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

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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

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

26. 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

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

28. 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

29. Questions/Final Comments
For Further Resources & Reading see:
Both