Blog #11: What are different types of librarian-faculty collaboration?
What are the benefits and costs of such collaboration?
Describe an "aha" moment you had this week, if any.
Several years ago, I took a combined graduate/undergraduate Brit Lit course at the U of M. As we were starting an extensive research paper assignment, a sophomore in the class raised her hand and asked if the professor could spend some time going over MLA format. The professor seemed quite irritated and stated that if students did not know it by now, they would have to make a trip to the library. He simply did not feel he could take the time to do this in class (or, evidently, during his office hours). On some level, I do understand the professor's reluctance to give up his lectures and class discussions on the content. But I also feel that especially at the undergraduate level not discussing how to write in the field and then grading students on how well they can write in the field is...well, unethical. And the professor's vague directive to the student, to "visit the library" did not seem helpful at all.
Had the professor had some sort of a partnership with a librarian, this could have helped this student--and all of the class, really, even the graduate students. Faculty cannot just assume that students have picked up this knowledge somewhere along the way. There are many ways a librarian-faculty partnership could happen. One is the one-shot model that I've experienced here at St. Kate's. Giving up even just one class period to take the class to the library or have a librarian come into the class, though certainly not ideal, is much better than nothing. At the reference desk, I have worked with many students who did not really remember much of the one-shot lesson, but they did remember that they could come and ask librarians for help. That, at least, is a start.
Of course there are better models of partnerships that we read about for this week. One is to "embed" a librarian within every department. These librarians become subject area specialists and are seen as accessible resources for students. They might be housed in the department, make frequent class visits, and be listed in the course's D2L page. The best collaboration, however, happens before the class even starts as a "blended librarian." In my Observations and Analysis paper, I cited a study from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in which librarians and faculty sat down and looked at potential class assignments together. The result was that librarians became much more knowledgeable about what students were expected to do, and the professors were much more aware of the information literacy demands that were embedded within their assignments. Working together like this at the assignment--and even course design stage benefits everyone--librarians, faculty, and most importantly, the students.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Assessing Assessment
Blog #10: What methods are used to evaluate teaching and learning?
Why is evidence-based librarianship important?
Describe an "aha" moment you had this week, if any.
Kathi Rickert, St. Kate's Library, will talk this week about the design and preliminary results of a pilot study of a new IL initiative that embeds librarians in undergraduate core courses. What questions do you have for her about the assessment process?
This week, we read about the R stage of Booth's USER method. R stands for reflect: evaluate aspects of learner and instructor experience; revise: determine what you would do differently the next time; and reuse: instructional materials in other situations. Booth outlines James McMillan's assessment strategies: selected response (polls, multiple choice tests), constructed response (short answer essay), teacher observation, and student self assessment. She also discusses the feedback loop, which, she says, comprises the following stages:
a. Pre-assessment: to establish prior knowledge;
b. Formative assessment: to evaluate in-process;
c. Summative assessment: to judge overall effectiveness; and
d. Confirmative: to track retention well after the interaction.
Although I believe it is an essential part of the learning process, dealing well with the assessment of student work is the single most difficult part of teaching for me. One blocking force is certainly time. I have developed methods that help me assess more efficiently (rubrics, checklists, etc.), but especially as a writing teacher, I frequently feel overwhelmed by the amount of feedback I feel I should be giving students vs. the hours I have in the day. I know this is directly related to both class size and the competing demands on my own time. I have learned, over the years, that I don't have to give feedback on everything, that peer and self evaluations are beneficial, that grading portfolios of selected best work can save time and be just as effective. However, I also remember days of small classes when I could actually have a writing conference with each student and how beneficial that was.
Another blocking force, I admit, is my general cynicism surrounding assessment. I'm not talking about authentic assessment developed by teachers who know their students and curriculum best; I'm referring to our test-happy current educational environment where students are subjected to all sorts of summative and confirmative tests written by Pearson and other companies that are profiting big time on our buying into the belief that we must have quantifiable data to know if we are effective. These test results are published in the newspaper, and teacher shaming ensues, even from those very people who are supposed to support us. See the recent example from the Minneapolis schools' superintendent: http://www.startribune.com/topics/people/bernadeia-johnson.html
And it isn't just Pearson et al. We have five high schools in our district. The district office has decided that all schools must use the same end of the course summative assessments. So, a committee of teachers and "TALS" (Teaching and Learning Specialists) develop assessments for each class. Teachers need to administer the assessments on the same day, grade them according to the district rubric, then report the scores to the district office. This is a time consuming process, which might be worth it if: a) the tests were actually good, and b) the result data was transformed into something useful. Neither of these, for a variety of reasons, is true. For me, it boils down to the lack of trust surrounding teachers. It is interesting to me, now working in a college environment, that post-secondary teachers (many of whom have no background in assessment design) are free to assess however they wish.
Finally, there is the pushback that inevitably happens with assessment. Students complaining about their grades, and worse, parents complaining about their grades. And with an administration that typically tries to make parents happy, I am now to the point where I seriously stop and wonder if it is worth it to give a "bad" grade--which in some cases is an A-. I know I'm ranting, sorry. I'm just trying to come to terms with my feelings toward assessment. As a librarian, I know I will still deal with assessment, but in a different way. Many of these issues will be resolved. But in the meantime, I try to not let the system flatten me. I do lots of student self-assessment. I give verbal feedback often. I develop my own tests in addition to the district ones that actually measure what students should have and did learn.
Why is evidence-based librarianship important?
Describe an "aha" moment you had this week, if any.
Kathi Rickert, St. Kate's Library, will talk this week about the design and preliminary results of a pilot study of a new IL initiative that embeds librarians in undergraduate core courses. What questions do you have for her about the assessment process?
This week, we read about the R stage of Booth's USER method. R stands for reflect: evaluate aspects of learner and instructor experience; revise: determine what you would do differently the next time; and reuse: instructional materials in other situations. Booth outlines James McMillan's assessment strategies: selected response (polls, multiple choice tests), constructed response (short answer essay), teacher observation, and student self assessment. She also discusses the feedback loop, which, she says, comprises the following stages:
a. Pre-assessment: to establish prior knowledge;
b. Formative assessment: to evaluate in-process;
c. Summative assessment: to judge overall effectiveness; and
d. Confirmative: to track retention well after the interaction.
Although I believe it is an essential part of the learning process, dealing well with the assessment of student work is the single most difficult part of teaching for me. One blocking force is certainly time. I have developed methods that help me assess more efficiently (rubrics, checklists, etc.), but especially as a writing teacher, I frequently feel overwhelmed by the amount of feedback I feel I should be giving students vs. the hours I have in the day. I know this is directly related to both class size and the competing demands on my own time. I have learned, over the years, that I don't have to give feedback on everything, that peer and self evaluations are beneficial, that grading portfolios of selected best work can save time and be just as effective. However, I also remember days of small classes when I could actually have a writing conference with each student and how beneficial that was.
Another blocking force, I admit, is my general cynicism surrounding assessment. I'm not talking about authentic assessment developed by teachers who know their students and curriculum best; I'm referring to our test-happy current educational environment where students are subjected to all sorts of summative and confirmative tests written by Pearson and other companies that are profiting big time on our buying into the belief that we must have quantifiable data to know if we are effective. These test results are published in the newspaper, and teacher shaming ensues, even from those very people who are supposed to support us. See the recent example from the Minneapolis schools' superintendent: http://www.startribune.com/topics/people/bernadeia-johnson.html
And it isn't just Pearson et al. We have five high schools in our district. The district office has decided that all schools must use the same end of the course summative assessments. So, a committee of teachers and "TALS" (Teaching and Learning Specialists) develop assessments for each class. Teachers need to administer the assessments on the same day, grade them according to the district rubric, then report the scores to the district office. This is a time consuming process, which might be worth it if: a) the tests were actually good, and b) the result data was transformed into something useful. Neither of these, for a variety of reasons, is true. For me, it boils down to the lack of trust surrounding teachers. It is interesting to me, now working in a college environment, that post-secondary teachers (many of whom have no background in assessment design) are free to assess however they wish.
Finally, there is the pushback that inevitably happens with assessment. Students complaining about their grades, and worse, parents complaining about their grades. And with an administration that typically tries to make parents happy, I am now to the point where I seriously stop and wonder if it is worth it to give a "bad" grade--which in some cases is an A-. I know I'm ranting, sorry. I'm just trying to come to terms with my feelings toward assessment. As a librarian, I know I will still deal with assessment, but in a different way. Many of these issues will be resolved. But in the meantime, I try to not let the system flatten me. I do lots of student self-assessment. I give verbal feedback often. I develop my own tests in addition to the district ones that actually measure what students should have and did learn.
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