Library Instruction: Outcomes & Assessment

Teaching, Learning and Assessment:

Assessment is an integral part of the processes of teaching and learning. Taking the time to assess student learning ensures us that the time we spend preparing and teaching is time well spent. It prompts us to step back and reflect on our teaching, and to think deeply about how we design our instruction and what our goals are for our students.

We assess to learn about our students, to learn about ourselves, and to improve. We engage in a continuous cycle of goal-setting, measurement, and action which leads to a systematic improvement of instructional effectiveness, an enhanced learning environment, and further opportunity for student success. 

Our goal is to create a coordinated approach with formative and summative assessment at the workshop/course and larger program levels. We select assessment tools based on factors like whether a course has student learning objectives on information literacy and library research skills, how much time a librarian spends giving instruction,and how many students participate in the instruction.  The tools range from one-minute papers to sets of activities spanning an entire semester.  Sometimes we collaborate with professors teaching courses to integrate assessment into assignments.  Assessment is the foundation for continuous improvement of our instruction and a resulting increase in student learning.  

DIRECT ASSESSMENT:  looks for evidence of student learning. It involves looking at actual samples of student work produced in our programs. These include:

• Quizzes (clickers, paper, polls)
• Exercises/Worksheets (short answer, case study)
• Active learning exercises: In-class observations, class Q&A, group discussion and/or work, or interactions (active learning)
• Minute papers (minute papers often look for satisfaction but can also tell you about student learning depending...)​

The above methods are what we will use most often because they are examples of formative assessment. Formative assessment is rather low-stakes and help students and instructors identify their strengths and weaknesses in learning a skill.  

However, if you have a good relationship or collaboration with a faculty member, you may also be able to look at summative assessments: high stakes assignments that evaluate student learning at the end of the term. This might include: 

• Gathering rubric data related to information literacy skills from faculty
• Looking at students' research assignments (with a faculty member's collaboration)

INDIRECT ASSESSMENT:

Gathering information through means other than looking at actual samples of student work. This includes satisfaction assessment which looks for evidence of faculty and/or student satisfaction with the experience.   These include surveys, exit interviews, and focus groups

Both direct and indirect assessments serve a particular purpose.  Indirect measures can give us information quickly, but may not provide real evidence of student learning.  Students may think that they learned well or say that they did, but that does not mean that their perceptions are correct.