Assessing Students' Information Literacy Skills Using MAP-Works
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The project at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg assesses students' information literacy skills using Map-Works surveys to determine whether students show progressive improvement as they advance through their coursework. The study highlights students' strengths and weaknesses in defining scholarly articles and evaluating topics, and aims to develop tiered learning outcomes based on assessment results. Findings indicate a significant increase in information literacy scores from freshmen to upperclassmen, supporting the need for faculty discussions on embedding information literacy into curricula.
Assessing Students' Information Literacy Skills Using MAP-Works
- 1. Assessing Students’ Information Literacy Skills Using MAP-Works University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg AiA Team Members: Amanda Folk (Director, Millstein Library), Jackie Horrall (Assistant VPAA), and Sheila Confer (Assistant Director of the Academic Village) Research Question: Do students at Pitt-Greensburg demonstrate a progressive increase in their information literacy skills as they move through coursework toward degree completion? Description: Our project investigates the use MAP-Works transition and check-up surveys as vehicles for information literacy assessment. The use of these surveys will allow us to track students’ progress longitudinally and hopefully increase the data we are able to collect from upperclassmen. This project is part of the program “Assessment in Action: Academic Libraries and Student Success” which is undertaken by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) in partnership with the Association for Institutional Research and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. The program, a cornerstone of ACRL's Value of Academic Libraries initiative, is made possible by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Students’ Strengths • Defining a scholarly article • Getting background info • Identifying appropriate evaluation questions • Citing and understanding what paraphrasing is Students’ Weaknesses • Selecting characteristics of a scholarly article • Determining an appropriate topic scope • Boolean searching using OR What’s Next? Analyze results of this assessment in combination with results of the HEDS Research Practices Survey Use results of both assessments to develop tiered learning outcomes. Use results of both assessments to begin conversations with teaching faculty about embedding information literacy explicitly into their courses. Think about developing a bank of valid and reliable assessment questions, especially if this becomes our main vehicle for information literacy assessment. Results What is MAP-Works? MAP-Works is an interactive student success tool that helps students make a successful transition to college, provides key information to faculty and professional staff, creates opportunities for early intervention, connects students to campus resources and re-aligns student expectations to improve their learning experience. MAP-Works uses survey, institutional data and input by staff and faculty to create individualized risk indicators and reports for each student. Timeline and Process Developed and submitted an expedited IRB application in order to collect data in summer 2015. Met to finalize questions to be added to the MAP-Works fall transition (freshmen and sophomores) and fall check- up (juniors and seniors) surveys. Collected data during the fall 2015 semester. Analyzed data using Stata during the spring 2016 semester. Most analysis was descriptive. Report of preliminary findings to Greensburg campus and ULS administrations. Presentation about information literacy skills to Greensburg campus faculty. (n=377) (n=54) (n=131) 5.72 6.74 7.41 FRESHMEN SOPHOMORES JUNIORS AND SENIORS MEAN SCORES BY COHORT (OUT OF 9 POINTS) Hypothesis testing revealed a statistically significant increase in scores between incoming freshmen, sophomores, and upperclassmen.