Developing a Comprehensive, Assessment-based Continuous Improvement Process for a Library Instruction Program

Abstract

The library education team at Michigan Technological University, an engineering-focused university, is developing a multifaceted process for assessment of our information literacy instruction program in order to continuously improve our teaching and related activities. The majority of library instruction sessions are 50-minute, one-shot classes with little or no follow-up from the faculty or students involved; as such, the efficacy of library instruction programs can be difficult to measure. In addition to already existing rubric-based information literacy assessments of student work, the education team is establishing a suite of accompanying methods for gathering both quantitative and qualitative data about our instructional activities. In summer 2015, the team participated in a retreat at which a number of methods of data collection were proposed. Four areas were selected for further development. A formal method for soliciting faculty feedback via a post-instruction survey has already been deployed and will collect responses throughout the fall 2015 and spring 2016 semesters. Three additional data collection methods will be launched in January 2016: a peer observation system, a rubric-based selfassessment, and analysis of student work products generated in the library instruction sessions. Collectively, these feedback mechanisms provide actionable information about the teaching effectiveness of individual librarians as well as the effectiveness of our education program as a whole. Information gathered from these assessment processes will be used in a variety of ways, including individual goal-setting for the following academic year, changing lesson plans to more closely align with students' needs and abilities, and generating specific and concrete recommendations for improving teaching and pedagogy for each instruction librarian. This paper reports on the process of developing each of these data collection methods, the information that has been gathered, and how that information has been applied to the improvement of our library instruction program. Background/Rationale