student learning outcomes the holy grail of academic library assessment lisa norberg, barnard...

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

The Holy Grail of Academic Library Assessment

Lisa Norberg, Barnard College

ENYACRL Spring Conference 2012

Student use of the library

- Resources- Services- Facilities

Supports attaining learning

outcomes defined &

assessed by faculty

During learning

activities in the academic

major

Communicated to stakeholders

using recognized frameworks

(Tuning & VALUE)

Understanding Library Impacts FrameworkLearning activities crosswalk

Critical incident questionnaire

The Understanding Library Impacts Project

ULI Framework © Derek Rodriguez, 2012

Crosswalk for History at Barnard

External Frameworks

- VALUE rubrics- Tuning outcomes

for History

Learning expectations- Discipline-specific skills- Thesis & argument- Evidence & analysis- Writing and citing

Learning activities- Getting started- Choosing a topic- Developing a thesis- Gathering evidence- Finding secondary sources- Citing- Writing- Preparing a presentation

Barnard History

department’s capstone

expectations

Constructed through content analysis of History rubrics

& program-level expectations. Subjected to inter-coder

agreement testing


Critical incident questionnaire

Library use- Electronic

resources- Traditional

resources- Services- Facilities

Learning activities

Helps and problems

Open ended &

local questions

Demographics (+ non-traditional

student scale)

Academic challenge (NSSE)

Anxiety and confidence


Developed and refined in qualitative studies (2006, 2007)

Delivered using the Qualtrics web-based survey application

research consultationreference books

archival materialscomputers

e-primary sourcese-books

non-library web-sitedatabases

library instructionreference question

internet search enginesinterlibrary loan

printersstudy space

e-journalslibrary catalog

books

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Most common uses during project at Barnard, % of respondents, n=24


getti

ng o

rient

ed

choo

sing

a to

pic

deve

loping

a th

esis

gath

ering

evid

ence

findin

g so

urce

s

citing

sou

rces

writing

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%92%

58%

‘Most important’ library uses by learning activity and % of respondents at Barnard, n=24

E-ResourceTraditionalServiceFacility/Equipment


e-books

reference question

computers

research consultation

library catalog

study space

e-primary sources

books

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

54%

67%

‘Most important’ uses while ‘gathering ev-idence’

at Barnard by % of respondents, n=24


Locating primary sources

Distinguishing between primary and secondary sources

Evaluating and interpreting primary sources

Advancing an argument using evidence from primary sources

92% of respondents used their ‘most important’ electronic resource when gathering evidence to support a thesis

Linking use to expectations for learning

A time when students demonstrate abilities of …

Assessed by faculty when

grading student work


library catalog

interlibrary loan

research consultation

databases

consortium-ILL (Borrow-Direct)

printers

e-journals

archival materials

e-primary sources

study space

books

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

‘Most important’ uses while ‘writing’ at Barnard

by % of respondents, n=24


Advancing an argument using evidence from primary sources

Communicating the argument in a coherent, well organized paper

Following discipline specific style standards

58% of respondents used their ‘most important’ library facility/equipment when writing

Linking use to expectations for learning

A time when students demonstrate abilities of …

Assessed by faculty when

grading student work


Access to tools

Affect of staff

Anxiety

Help finding information

Ease of use

Availability of space

Convenience

Access to information

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%

Proportion of respondents reporting helps and problems at Barnard, by theme, n=24

HelpsProblems


“Developing a thesis statement to differentiate project from other scholars.”

“I had way too much information”

“I was worried about finding primary source material”

“I had trouble finding newspaper articles from multiple newspapers.”

36%

14%45%

5%Challenges by type, n=22

Assignment relatedEvaluating informationFinding informationTime management


getti

ng o

rient

ed

choo

sing

a to

pic

deve

loping

a th

esis

gath

ering

evid

ence

findin

g ot

her s

ourc

es

crea

ting

a bib

liogr

aphy

writing

02468

10121416

Challenges faced by type and activity at Barnard, n=22

Time managementAssignment relatedEvaluating informationFinding information



Learning objectives… to learn to develop a feasible and original research topic, to develop better research skills … to learn to engage meaningfully with my peers' academic work … engage at a more intense level with the primary and secondary sources relevant to my study “

Student B-16 is aged 18-22, a history major, and a senior attending college full-time. She works a job 10 – 20 hours per week.

She used 18 types of library resources, services, and facilities when working on her project including reference and a research consultation

One student’s experience

Expected abilities- select a topic- develop a thesis- evaluate and interpret primary sources- advance argument using evidence

Image courtesy of finaid.org


Student B-16's most important library uses & challenge by learning activity

getting oriented

choosing a topic

developing a thesis

gathering evidence

finding secondary

sources

citing writing

e-journals

books books I checked out from the library

Borrow-Direct

study space

challenge

ChallengeAt a somewhat early point in the project, I realized that the scope of my project was much too wide … and I had an extremely difficult time narrowing down my topic appropriately.


How she overcame her challengeTo narrow my topic, I consulted with professors and my thesis adviser. I also actually widened my research in an attempt to step back and try to determine the significant questions regarding my general field of study. My finalized topic came about in large part due to the suggestions of a professor.

AffectShe was anxious before (4 “agree”) and during the project (4 “agree”), but reported improved confidence after completing the project. (3 5 “strongly agree”)

Image courtesy of Hollins University

UseLearning

Outcomes

institutional datasets

Academic work tasks

rubric scores

grades

id id

attainment

Future work for ULI

2012-2013- Repeat projects in History- Extend to Social Sciences- Extend to alternative information services, such as the ERL- Add assessment results


“These resources were very easy to use, but without meeting with library staff, I would have never known they were there …”

For more information about ULIplease visit http://bit.ly/rqXk13

student learning outcomes the holy grail of academic library assessment lisa norberg, barnard...

Documents