The Fourth R: Institutional Assessment of Information Literacy LaGuardia Community CollegeCUNY

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The Fourth RInstitutional Assessment of
Information Literacy _at_ LaGuardia Community
College/CUNY
Presented by
F. Egger-Sider L. Fluk
A. Rojas
Library Assessment Conference Building
Effective, Sustainable, Practical
AssessmentSeptember 25-27, 2006Omni Hotel,
Charlottesville, Virginia
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Help!

• We are here to recruit you to help us with our
  outcomes assessment plan!

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About LaGuardia
LaGuardia students come from all over the world.
Among the 13,592 students in academic programs,
there are 161 countries represented and 103
different languages spoken natively. Nearly all
LaGuardia students make their home in New York
City now. More than two-thirds live in Queens.
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Information Literacy at LaGuardia

• Credit courses
• LRC102, Information Strategies,3 credits
• LRC103, Internet Research Strategies,1 credit
• both qualify as Liberal Arts electives
• One-shot classesmandatory for all
  ENG101(Composition) courses
• Drop-in or sign-up workshops
• Mandatory sign-off on IL component of all new
  course proposals
• Annual Research Review Competition

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Enter Middle States

• Middle States accreditation agency mandate
• Outcomes assessment is a necessary part of
  accreditation
• IL is a necessary part of outcomes assessment
• The entire institution, not just the library,
  is responsible for IL and IL assessment.

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Assessment at LaGuardia

• 2002 outcome assessment plan was created in
  response to a mandate from Middle States
• Plan proposes to assess 7 core competencies which
  constitute LaGuardias general education
  requirements.

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The Seven Core Competencies

• Critical Literacy (Reading, Writing, and Critical
  Thinking)
• Quantitative Reasoning
• Oral Communication
• Research Information Literacy
• Technological Literacy

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ePortfolio

• Until recently, most assessment consisted of
  surveys, self-reporting and tests. ePortfolio
  provides a mechanism to collect student work for
  the purpose of true outcomes assessment

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Institutional Assessment

• With this ability to keep student work
  indefinitely, LaGuardia is embarking on the
  assessment of the Information Literacy abilities
  of our students across disciplines and across
  time.
• Students will be assessed upon entering the
  college, in a mid-level course, and in a capstone
  course. We hope to be able to make comparisons
  over time with various demographics.

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Rubric Development at LaGuardia

• Why Rubrics?
• Rubrics seem to be the best performance measure
  to assess reliably and objectively a substantial
  amount of student work across disciplines and
  across time.
• Critical Literacy Rubric
• Range Finders
• Norming

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IL Learning Outcomes

• We have distilled from the 5 ACRL IL competencies
  3 learning outcomes to be tested at LaGuardia
• Learning Outcome I Determining information needs
  and searching effectively
• Learning Outcome II Evaluating sources
  effectively
• Learning Outcome III Using information ethically
  

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Student Work

• Testing each outcome requires a specific piece of
  student work
• LO I Narrative of research
• LO II Text of a research paper
• LO III In-text citations and
  bibliography

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Learning Outcome II Evaluating Sources
EffectivelyThe student is able to evaluate
sources of information critically
 
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What Have We Learned?

• Rubric Development
• Extremely time-consuming
• Every institution must create its own
  rubrics
• The need to revise rubrics

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What Have We Learned?

• Rating of student work
• Reliability issues
• Requires assignment
• Privacy
• Inter-rater reliability
• Faculty collaboration
• Limitation of rubrics
• Assessment cycle

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Assessment Cycle
Source Ratteray, Oswald M.T. The Strategic
Triad Supporting Information Literacy
Assessment. In Outcomes Assessment in Higher
Education, edited by Peter Hernon and Robert E.
Dugan, 135-148. Westport, CT Libraries
Unlimited, 2004.
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This Is What We Need From You

• Please read the papers provided
• Using the rubric and the provided rating form,
  please rate the papers
• Then mail the rating form back to us in the
  self-addressed envelope provided
• If you are interested in obtaining the results,
  please forward us your contact information

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Contact Information

• Louise R.Fluk
• Coordinator of Library Instruction
• fluk_at_lagcc.cuny.edu
•  
• Francine Egger-Sider
• Coordinator of Technical Services
• fegger_at_lagcc.cuny.edu
•  
• Alexandra Rojas
• Reference/Instruction Librarian
• arojas_at_lagcc.cuny.edu
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• LaGuardia Community College/CUNY
• Library Media Resources Center
• 31-10 Thomson Avenue
• Long Island City, NY 11101

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Thanks to

• Steven Ovadia Web/Extended Services Librarian
  LaGuardia Community College for
  his assistance with this PowerPoint.