I-Know Faculty Guide:Assessing SLO 1: Find

I-Know Librarian

Summative Artifact

With the help of the First Year Seminar coordinators, we have created a final assessment that plugs into the First Year Symposium project. Along with their tri-fold poster, students will submit a search strategy reflection, where they discuss the process of searching for information, and refining their results. This activity was originally created by librarians at Northern Kentucky University’s Steely Library. It has been adapted with the help of our University Seminar Instructors to meet the needs of TAMU-CC I-Know Program.

Please upload your student samples of your I-Know assessment to the DINS Seminar Faculty Repository. The steps are as follows:

  1. Collect 2 student samples from each of your sections. Use the 5th and second to last student on your roster (as a way to randomize the collection and to prevent our selecting only the “best”).  If you run into problems with getting samples from the 5th or second to last, take work from students who come directly after the 5th or the last student.  
  2. Rename each file using the following file name protocol: year.course.section.yourlastname (example: 2022.univ1101.001.sperry or 2022.univ1101.w01.sperry)
  3. Upload and Submit each file to this assignment by Dec.18th, at the end of the day.  Please submit all student files to the FALL 2023 I-KNOW STUDENT ARTIFACTS assignment (2 per section x 5 classes = 10 file attachments). 

I-Know's plan for Spring 2024 is as follows:

  • Deidentify: A third party not affiliated with I-Know or the First Year Learning Community will de-identify the student artifacts by removing student and faculty names.
  • Scoring: A committee consisting of First Year faculty peers will score the student assignments using the I-Know rubric. The third party will have a master key to ensure that faculty are not given their own students’ assignments when the samples are being distributed to score.

SLO 1 Rubric

 Artifacts that align with SLO 1 should demonstrate the students' ability to A) identify and pursue effective search strategies, as well as B) assess the quality and/or relevance of their search results. We encourage all First Year Seminar faculty to adapt this artifact to meet the needs of your individual course. Artifacts will be submitted to Blackboard and scored by the I-Know Assessment committee. Scores are calculated using the rubric below.  

Assessment is on a 4 point scale, with 4 points being the most advanced (Exemplary), and 1 point being the Developing benchmark.
SLO Level (4) Exemplary  (3) Highly Developed  (2) Developed  (1) Developing 
 1a: Identify and pursue effective digital approaches for accessing information (such as keyword searching and citation following).  The student’s work reflects the use of effective, well-designed digital search strategies.  The student’s work reflects the use of a combination of digital search strategies. The student’s work reflects the use of a simple digital search strategy. The student’s work reflects an attempt to find information without employing a digital search strategy. 
1b: Assess the quality and relevance of their search results.  The student’s work reflects the ability to refine a search to find the most appropriate information sources  The student’s work reflects the ability to refine a search to obtain relevant information sources.  The student's work reflects an attempt to refine their search resulting in information sources that have varying levels of quality and/or relevance.  The student's work reflects little or no attempt to refine a search. 

We anticipate students moving up this scale as they are exposed to and are able to practice the digital information literacy skill throughout their time at TAMUCC. We encourage you to keep this rubric in mind when creating or adapting activities, or creating your own course assessments.  

Summative Assessment: TATIL

Students in First Year Seminar will be asked to take module 2 of the Threshold Achievement Test for Information Literacy (TATIL) at the beginning and end of their first semester. This module focuses on the process of planning, evaluating, and revising searches during strategic exploration.

I-Know Consultation

If you want help creating or adapting activities that reflect the I-Know Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) into your own course, you can contact Emily Sartorius at emily.sartorius@tamucc.edu.

Subjects: Library Services