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CofC Libraries Instruction and Assessment: Digital Scholarship, 2013-2015

CofC Librarians and Archivists are available to provide credit bearing, scheduled, and point of need instruction to ensure users have access to regular and timely instruction in the use of library and other learning/information resources.

Digital Scholarship and Services (DSS) Assessment Procedures

Digital Scholarship and Services is responsible for the assessment and evaluation of campus digital scholarship needs and implemented services, workshops and projects. As such, the department utilized their standardized instructional assessment tool (first developed and implemented in the 2013-2014 year) during the 2014-2015 year in order to collect data and determine:

  1. The effectiveness of instruction offered by Digital Scholarship and Services,
  2. Whether the departments instructional efforts were worthwhile,
  3. Whether the instruction produced improvements in participant knowledge and skills,
  4. To provide feedback for instruction and program improvement. 

The framework for the assessment survey was shared with Public Services and James Williams created a LibAnalytics Instance available in the Springshare LibGuides Platform. The standard printable assessment instrument is also included in the online educational resources created by the department to encourage adoption and standardize data collection.

This assessment tool is simple, straightforward and, thus far, has yielded remarkably rich results. The department will continue to use this standard assessment rubric in the 2015-2016 Study Skills workshops, SPECTRA sessions, and other instructional activities in order to gather data and collect additional feedback from participants. The Digital Scholarship and Services department will use this data to determine the effectiveness of instructional sessions, assess improvements in participant knowledge and skills, and to provide feedback for faculty instruction and program improvement.

2014-2015 Assessment Activities

Study Skills 201 Workshops (Collaborative Effort with the Center for Student Learning)

Assessment activities for the Study Skills 201 workshops continued in 2014-­2015. The same assessment instrument from the previous year was used to collect assessment data. 

The assessment instrument was delivered at the end of each workshop in paper form (based on previous experiences with low submission rates for electronic assessment collection methods) and results were tallied manually. The overall response rate was 73.97% (54 responses / 19 non-­‐completes / 73 participants).

In comparison to the previous year, the results suggest:

  1. The workshop facilitator’s instruction was generally considered valuable and effective with an overall rating of 3.85 in fall 2013 and 3.95 in spring 2014. The suggestions provided in the comment section of the survey were used to modify instructional practices by providing increased hands-­‐on active learning opportunities during the workshops.
  2. The overall rating for the workshop series indicated that the Study Skills 201 workshop series were productive and worthwhile with an overall rating of 3.78 in fall 2013 and 3.89 in spring 2014. Based on these results, the Center for Student Learning and the Library plans to continue their collaborative efforts to offer Study Skills Workshops during the 2014-­2015 academic year.
  3. Based on feedback from session participants, it was determined that the workshop series produced improvements in participant knowledge and skills. The overall rating by participants for “Usefulness of Information” in fall 2013 was 3.75 and 3.86 in spring 2014.
  4. Participants’ feedback to the survey question “Other Suggestions/Topics” was used to inform program design. The fall 2015 Study Skills series offerings were revised based on workshop topic popularity. All workshop facilitators received survey responses for their sessions and the feedback provided by participants was used to improve instructional practices.

 

Speedy Consolidation and Transition (SPECTRA)

The department continued its collaboration with Multicultural Student Programs and Services, First Year Experience and the Center for Student Learning to deliver a series of workshops during the 2014-2015 year to approximately 94 students enrolled in the Speedy Consolidation and Transition (SPECTRA) program. Library workshops included “What you Need to Know about Plagiarism” using mobile phone polling (94 participants) and “Put the Library in Your Pocket” using iPads and the College of Charleston mobile app to access library resources and services (76 participants). The department expects to revise instructional activities and continue this collaboration in the 2014-­2015 year. The Speedy Consolidation and Transition (SPECTRA) program provided assessment data on workshop effectiveness for Library Information Literacy Instruction (Plagiarism and Introduction to the Library Workshops) from SPECTRA students in 2013-­2014. In order to align student-learning outcomes for library instruction and SPECTRA program needs, the standard DSS assessment instrument was used to collect additional feedback from SPECTRA participants. As in other efforts, the data will be used to determine the effectiveness of instruction, assess improvements in participant knowledge and skills, and to provide feedback for instruction and program improvement. The data will also be shared back with the SPECTRA program for their own analysis and reporting efforts. This assessment method will continue in 2015-2016.

The face­‐to­‐face paper assessment survey completed at the end of the sessions provided satisfactory response rates. The response rate for the “What you Need to Know about Plagiarism” session was 95.74% (90 responses / 4 non-­‐completes / 94 participants). The response rate for the “Put the Library in Your Pocket” sessions was 94.73% collectively (72 responses / 4 non-­‐completes / 76 participants).

Participant’s answers to the survey question “Other Suggestions/Topics” from the “What you Need to Know about Plagiarism” workshops were used to generate a dialogue with students and inform instructional design for the “Put the Library in Your Pocket” workshop.

These results suggest:

  1. The workshop facilitator’s instruction was generally considered valuable and effective with an overall rating of 3.58 in the larger “What you Need to Know about Plagiarism” workshop and 3.94 in the smaller “Put the Library in your Pocket” workshop. The suggestions provided in the comment section of the survey were used to increase dialogue with students and scaffold library instruction.
  2. The overall rating for the workshop series indicated that the workshop series were productive and worthwhile with an overall rating of 3.58 in the larger “What you Need to Know about Plagiarism” workshop and 3.90 in the smaller “Put the Library in your Pocket” workshop.
  3. Based on feedback from session participants, it was determined that the workshop series produced improvements in participant knowledge and skills. The overall rating by participants for “Usefulness of Information” in “What you Need to Know about Plagiarism” was 3.7 and 3.9 in the smaller “Put the Library in your Pocket” workshop that incorporated participant feedback and answered participants specific questions.

Jolanda-Pieta (Joey) van Arnhem

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Jolanda-Pieta (Joey) van Arnhem M.F.A., M.L.I.S.
she/her/hers
Contact:
Addlestone Library, Room 101
843.953.3604

Related Resources

Reports

2015

2014

 

Open Educational Resources (OER)

OER's produced from the workshop series are freely available for faculty and student use and can be modified or adapted with attribution under a Creative Commons License. 

In an effort to evaluate the usefulness of the workshop guides created in the first year of the program Study Skills Series (2013-2014), feedback and comments were solicited from the Research and Instruction Librarians in 2014-2015. Overall feedback was positive and in the upcoming year the department will continue to provide instructional assistance, cross-training, and regular communication about new tools.

Study Skills

  1. Study Skills 201: What's New @ the Library  
  2. Study Skills 201: Let's Not Meet 
  3. Study Skills 201: Helpful Apps 
  4. Study Skills 201: Notes Re-imagined 
  5. Study Skills 201: Current Awareness 
  6. Study Skills 201: Unpacking Evernote
  7. Study Skills 201: Google Apps 

Speedy Consolidation and Transition (SPECTRA)

  1. Freedom Summer: The College Reads!
  2. #Charleston Syllabus