Natasha Skeen. Community Liaison Librarian, University of Worcester. n.skeen@worc.ac.uk April 2015

Overview:

Research skills sessions at the Hive consist of teaching students the finer points of:

• Resources – varieties, pros and cons • Knowing where to look – databases/catalogues • How to find resources – keywords/Boolean • Reading critically • Referencing

It is beneficial to summatively assess the students’ levels of understanding, especially when it is the only session with them (in my case I usually teach sixth formers who don’t always respond well to verbal, formative assessment).

At the end of my one-day teaching sessions I set the students a 30 – 60 minute poster project. This enables me to assess how much they’ve taken in and what (if anything) I need to improve for future sessions.

The poster will either be on a subject of my choosing or if they’re visiting the Hive as part of a specific course their teacher may set a subject for them. In either case the students must include a number of criteria in their poster.

References:

Billington, HL. (1997) Poster presentations and peer assessment: novel forms of evaluation and assessment. Journal of Biological Education 31 (3), 218 - 220

Newton, DP. (2012) Teaching for Understanding. 2nd ed. London, Routledge.

Summers, K. (2005) Student assessment using poster presentations. Paediatric Nursing. 17 (8), 24 – 26

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D C

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A. Nice attempt at

citation too!

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A-Level History students topic, set by teacher.

Further research: Assessment strategies for the shorter one-shot Information Literacy session. D

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Assessment Criteria. (Keywords)

Working in groups students must include:

A) An overview or three facts about the subject. B) A list of keywords useful for searching C) A reference list of at least three items, which must include at least one:

• (Online) journal article • One book

D) A theme/angle for further research.

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