Theme: Assessment of information literacy

Author Abstract

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Hanne
Dybvik and Else Helene
Norheim, Oestfold University College, HALDEN, Norge (Presenting authors)

Introduction;
We have conducted two studies at Oestfold University College. The aim
was to explore and assess how the students from nursing and teacher
education faculties describe the influence of the library instruction
courses of information literacy (IL) on their studies. Method; The two
qualitative studies were performed by interviewing and observing the
students about their skills in information retrieval. We started by
interviewing and observing a group of nineteen first year students. Nine
students had attended the IL instruction, ten students had not. Two
years later we did a follow-up study within the same group of students
to see if their search behaviour had changed. This time we interviewed
and observed twelve third year students. Results; In our first study, we
compared the results of the students who had attended the library
instruction to those who had not. The IL instruction did not have the
expected impact on our students? search behaviour, as there were only
slight differences between the two groups of students. In the second
study, we compared students who had attended regular library instruction
each year throughout their studies to those who had attended none or
only one IL class. We found that the two groups differed more than in
the first study. The students who had attended IL instruction regularly
showed a better understanding of their search behaviour, recognized more
databases, and talked less of Google than academic sources of
information. The results of the study reflect certain differences
between nursing and teaching studies regarding the implementation of IL
and academic requirements. Conclusion; Our results show that the
library?s continuous and „just-in-time? IL instruction contributes to
improve the students? search behaviour. In addition, the collaboration
with academic staff and the academic requirements in the studies seem to
influence the students? use of academic databases.

Keywords: assessment ; search behaviour ; information literacy

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Corinne
Laverty (Presenting author), Sylvia Andrychuk, and Suzanne
Maranda, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada

We might
expect that standards-based education influences how librarians are
trained to assess information literacy (IL) outcomes. A survey of 53
teaching librarians across Ontario universities revealed that
professional development on assessment is lacking. Key findings revealed
that 91% of respondents are not required to assess IL outcomes and that
53% do not assess student learning. Of those who do assess, only 14%
are confident in their measurements. Unfortunately, 29% have had no
assessment training yet over half identified design of IL assignments
and/or analysis of assessment data as priority learning.

Given the
need to provide support in this area, an internal teaching group at one
university library established a process to guide professional
development. The team identified five stages needed to contribute to
meaningful assessment: 1) Investigate IL needs within departments; 2)
Develop IL outcomes and curriculum; 3) Map IL outcomes to program/course
curriculum; 4) Assess IL outcomes; and 5) Develop teaching strategies
that support student achievement.

A curriculum framework (TO-LEAD)
guides the development of workshop content: (T) Teaching strategies;
(O) Outcomes demonstrating open accountability; (L) Learning partners to
bring a systematic and integrated approach to IL development; (E)
Educational technologies in the creation of online tools; (A) Advocacy
to engage in teaching and learning debates and planning; and (D)
Developing self-regulation to become educators who monitor and set goals
for professional teaching practice.

Eighteen in-house workshops
have built a supportive learning community through shared individual
case scenarios, setting action plans, and discussing learning
principles. In reviewing workshop evaluations, we?ve seen a change in
teaching philosophy and classroom of the curriculum has been in writing
learning outcomes, aligned assessment techniques, curriculum mapping,
and application of active learning techniques. This session will use
active learning strategies to share participant assessment needs and
internal professional development models.

Keywords: professional development models

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Eerika Kaasalainen, Häme University of Applied Sciences HAMK, Hämeenlinna, Finland (Presenting author)

At Häme University of Applied Sciences HAMK, Library and information services is responsible for education in information literacy. However, the education has not been systematic. The practices vary greatly and are based on individual interpersonal relationships. Co-operation is challenging, because HAMK was originally composed of 17 schools and learning institutions twenty years ago. It operates on seven campuses, which all still have strong individual traditions.

A development project was started in the library in December 2015, one of the aims of which is to systematize the education in information skills. The aim is connected with the ongoing restructuring of theses at HAMK. The courses at HAMK consist of modules, and the plan is to implement an information skills entity into the modules so that each student at HAMK gets the education at the most timely point possible. The entity will be guided by an information specialist, a communication teacher, and a subject teacher, and the assignments will be tightly integrated with the subject.

Even when the goals are reached, we do not yet meet the national recommendations for information literacy in higher education (see e.g. Syvälahti & Asplund 2015). The aim of our presentation is to explain these circumstances by describing the challenges of a relatively young and heterogenic organization. Our materials consist of a survey complemented with interviews, and our method is content analysis. The presentation is a work in progress. 

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Dr.
Marijn Post (Presenting author),  Marja Duizendstraal, Marian Van Harmelen, and Renée De
Waal, Wageningen UR, Wageningen, Netherlands

Introduction:
Motivating students to improve their Information Literacy (IL) skills
can be a challenge. As a pilot, we implemented Team Based Learning (TBL)
in our IL lessons. TBL is an interactive learning approach based on the
?flipped classroom? concept, offering students opportunities to gather
skills via immediate feedback during individual and team activities.
Moreover, TBL promises to be an attractive and activating way of
learning. We were interested if TBL, A) indeed activates students and B)
improves their IL skills more than with lectures and self-tuition.

Methods:
TBL was implemented in a first year bachelor IL course in the year
2015-2016. Student were asked to study three IL e-learning modules
before class. The obtained knowledge was assessed individually during an
Individual Readiness Assessment test (IRAT) and in a team via a Team
Readiness Assessment test (TRAT) using „scratch and win cards?. After
this, teams were given an IL case and the members had to come to a
consensus about the best solution out of a couple options provided.
Finally, students took a written exam, which was the same as used in
this course in the year 2014-2015, when TBL was not applied yet.

We
compared the grades of the written exam between the two academic years
using a Mann Whitney U test (P<0.05). Students? opinion about TBL was
polled using a 34 question student survey.

Results: The mean
written exam grades were significantly higher in the TBL year than in
the preceding year without TBL (respectively, 7.6 ± 1.42 vs 6.5 ± 1.31,
P<0.001). The student survey showed that students were positive about
the IRATs and TRATs, but neutral about other TBL parts.

Conclusion: TBL seems to be a good didactical method to motivate students and enhance their IL skills.

Keywords: team based learning ; flipped classroom

 

 

Ellen Nierenberg, Hedmark University College, Hamar, Norway (Presenting author)

This
paper presents the findings of recent research at Hedmark University of
Applied Sciences (HUAS) in Norway. Information literacy (IL) skills of
first-year nursing and teacher education students were documented twice
during their first year: early in the first semester, before the
library?s IL-instruction; and after both library instruction and the
submission of a paper in which students had use for course material

All
new students at HUAS attend two IL-classes from the library. In the
first class students learn to search for information. In the second,
called „Sources of information and how to cite them,? students learn to
critically evaluate sources, avoid plagiarism and cite sources.

Research
questions were designed to best reflect the content of the second
library course, and did not address search skills. Questions in the
original and follow-up surveys were nearly identical, making it possible
to compare results and determine whether or not IL-skills had improved
after the combination of library instruction and academic writing. The
intention of the follow-up survey was not to measure short-term memory
of library instruction, but rather to see what information students
retained after writing a paper which required them to evaluate and cite
sources and avoid plagiarism.

The largest faculties at HUAS are
nursing and teacher education, and this research focuses exclusively on
students in these professional studies. Before-and-after results,
measuring students? self-assessments and their actual IL-skills, were
analyzed for nursing students and teacher-education students to
determine whether or not there are significant differences between
student groups.

Results show a substantial increase in IL-skills
for both student groups in all three topics: evaluating sources,
avoiding plagiarism, and citing sources. Although there were only small
differences between nursing and teacher-education students? skills,
their self-assessments differed significantly, with nursing students
showing more confidence in their abilities than teacher education
students.

Keywords: information literacy; library instruction; Norway

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Hilde Kaalvik, NTNU, Trondheim, Norge (Presenting author)

Introduction:
This study examines the information behavior of bachelor students in
the field of Social Education. By investigating the challenges of
information seeking students have when writing their bachelor?s theses,
my purpose was to find out how information literate they are. I compared
how they handled information retrieved from their literature studies. I
examined the effect of changes of my teaching by analyzing the theses?
method chapters.

Method: I analyzed 24 randomly selected
bachelor?s theses. Apart from one, all 24 theses included a literature
study. I focused on the specification of the searching strategies and
choices of databases. During the study I made changes to the content and
method of my teaching in order to see whether it resulted in
improvements of the bachelor?s theses.

Results: The students have
problems with elementary searching methods and they lack vocabulary to
describe a search strategy. Most of them have a search history to
document their searches which show signs of random search strategies not
using relevant search techniques available. Even if I changed the way
of teaching, there is only little significant positive effect.

Conclusion:
The study implies that in order to achieve the desired effect of
teaching information literacy and to increase students? learning
outcome, librarians should be involved in the professional design and
academic context of a subject. They should also participate in the
evaluation and assessment process. Librarians? teaching should move from
offering individual lectures to taking active part in the students?
learning process, i.e. by assessing tests and assignments together with
the university teachers. A real integrated approach requires more than
an implementation of information literacy teaching in the curriculum and
a collaboration with the teachers. This presentation?s main message is
to show that the library must change its practice of teaching IL to
ensure sustainable learning outcomes.

Keywords: assessment ; role of librarians; bachelor ; information literacy