College of DuPage: Project Description

(No) Student Learning: Assignment

✓ Student Learning: Course

(No) Student Learning: Major

(No) Student Learning: Degree

(No) Student Engagement

(No) Student Success

(No) Academic Intimacy/Rapport

(No) Enrollment

(No) Retention

(No) Completion

(No) Graduation

(No) Articulation

(No) Graduates' Career Success

(No) Testing (e.g., GRE, MCAT, LSAT, CAAP, CLA, MAPP)

(No) Other (please describe)

✓ Instruction

(No) Instruction: Games

(No) Instruction: One Shot

(No) Instruction: Course Embedded

(No) Instruction: Self-Paced Tutorials

(No) Reference

(No) Educational Role (other than reference or instruction)

(No) Space, Physical

(No) Discovery (library resources integrated in institutional web and other information portals)

(No) Discovery (library resource guides)

(No) Discovery (from preferred user starting points)

(No) Collections (quality, depth, diversity, format or currency)

(No) Personnel (number and quality)

(No) Other (please describe)

✓ Undergraduate

(No) Graduate

(No) Incoming

(No) Graduating

(No) Pre-College/Developmental/Basic Skills

(No) Other (please describe)

(No) Arts

(No) Humanities

(No) Social Sciences

(No) Natural Sciences (i.e., space, earth, life, chemistry or physics)

(No) Formal Sciences (i.e., computer science, logic, mathematics, statistics or systems science)

(No) Professions/Applied Sciences

✓ English Composition

✓ General Education

(No) Information Literacy Credit Course

✓ Other (please describe)

Speech Communications

(No) Assessment Office

(No) Institutional Research

✓ Teaching Faculty

(No) Writing Center

(No) Information/Academic Technology

(No) Student Affairs

✓ Campus Administrator

(No) Library Administrator

✓ Other Librarian

(No) Other (please describe)

✓ Survey

(No) Interviews

✓ Focus Group(s)

(No) Observation

(No) Pre/Post Test

(No) Rubric

(No) Other (please describe)

(No) Student Portfolio

(No) Research Paper/Project

(No) Class Assignment (other than research paper/project)

(No) Other (please describe)

(No) Test Scores

(No) GPA

(No) Degree Completion Rate

(No) Retention Rate

(No) Other (please describe)

What was the project's primary inquiry question?

1. How does the Library’s Information Literacy Instruction Program contribute to students meeting institutional General Education Information Literacy outcomes?

• How does the project align with your institution’s priorities and needs?
• Why did you choose the outcome and library factor as areas to examine?
• Why was the team composition appropriate?

1. The COD Library has a large and successful instruction program which reaches an average of 17,000 students through a combination of nearly 1000 traditional instruction sessions, workshops and webinars. Based on teaching volume and faculty and student feedback, we know that our program addresses the need for information literacy instruction; however we did not have a formal assessment plan through which we could identify priorities or necessary changes. By piloting our assessment plan with courses for which we provide the most instruction, English Composition and Speech Communication, we intend to develop an assessment strategy that has potential for replication and/or adaptation in other disciplines. Our team consisted of a teaching faculty member, associate dean and liaison librarian from each discipline, plus librarians with experience in assessment and interest in adapting the project for use in other disciplines.

• What are the significant contributions of your project?
• What was learned about assessing the library’s impact on student learning and success?
• What was learned about creating or contributing to a culture of assessment on campus?
• What, if any, are the significant findings of your project?

1. The project has contributed significantly to the development of a culture of assessment in the Library and has led to Library faculty taking leading roles in campus-wide discussions on assessment and participating in both on campus and at statewide events. Librarians are now outspoken advocates for creating a culture of assessment on campus and are involved in several college initiatives.

   While we continue to gather evidence, the team has learned the value of developing a multi-faceted approach to assessing student learning. While our initial inquiry question remains broad, we have begun examining two high-enrollment general education courses. Additionally, we recognized early in our AIA project that we first had to identify which of the several librarian-mediated IL instruction opportunities our classroom faculty were offering to students. We focused our energy on answering this question through a faculty survey the results of which will guide our future efforts in IL instruction.

• What will you change as a result of what you learned (– e.g., institutional activities, library functions or practices, personal/professional practice, other)?
• How does this project contribute to current, past, or future assessment activities on your campus?

1. Survey results indicate that teaching faculty in our largest pool of library instruction may not be aware of services beyond one-shot sessions and workshops. We also found that nearly 50% of responding participants have worked at COD for 5 years or fewer. In response, library liaisons to English and Speech Communication are encouraged to increase outreach efforts in order to ensure that newer instructors learn about our availability for student research consultations, development and revision of research assignments, embedding in Blackboard discussion boards.

   Upcoming focus groups may provide insight into which IL instruction services should be updated, created or retired. We also expect that data gathered during Phase 2 of the project, assessment of student learning, will have a significant impact on instruction program planning. Finally, we are looking forward to expanding this assessment model and using it to examine the impact of IL instruction in other general education courses.

Please list any articles published, presentations given, URL of project website, and team leader contact details.

1. The following presentations are available on the COD Library's Assessment webpage: http://www.codlrc.org/IL/assessment

   Program Level Assessment in the Library: Impact of Information Literacy Instruction on English Composition and Speech Communications Courses at College of DuPage. (2016). PowerPoint slides presented at 20th Annual Illinois Community College Assessment Fair, Harper College, Palatine, IL. http://www.codlrc.org/IL/assessment

   Assessment and Excellence (2016). Presented at COD Faculty Colloquium, College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL.

   Team Leader:
   Jennifer Kelley
   Professor | Reference Librarian
   College of DuPage Library
   425 Fawell Blvd
   Glen Ellyn, IL 60137
   email: kelleyj@cod.edu