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.
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.
| 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 variety of digital search strategies. | The student’s work reflects the use of simple digital search strategies. | 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.
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.
If you want help creating or adapting activities that reflect the I-Know Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) into your own course, you can contact Eric Cosio at eric.cosio@tamucc.edu
