Project Name: Improving Students’ Information Literacy: Analyzing and Using Results from the Spring 2007 Research Practices Survey Project
Project Lead: Jo Beld, Professor of Political Science and Director of Evaluation and Assessment, St. Olaf College
Project Update:
July 16, 2008 -- The Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium (HEDS) will administer the Research Practices Survey in 2008 - 2009. NITLE participating institutions are invited to participate in the administration of the survey, which is transitioning into HEDS administration as one outcome of the "Improving Students’ Information Literacy: Analyzing and Using Results from the Spring 2007 Research Practices Survey Project," a recipient of a NITLE Instructional Innovation Fund Award. HEDS is offering a single administration to incoming first-years, with a sample of any size, for an institutional cost of $500; the cost of two administrations, whether cross-sectional or longitudinal, is $650. Register to Participate (.pdf, 23.34 KB, includes full information on how to register) | Sample Survey (56.85 KB), licensed under Creative Commons
Note that HEDS must receive your completed registration form at least two weeks prior to your requested survey start date and no later than August 25, 2008 (for Summer/Fall 2008 administration) or April 20, 2009 (for Spring 2009 administration). For more information, contact Erika Shehata at the HEDS office.
About the Survey
The Research Practices Survey assesses the development of information literacy among undergraduate students and is a fifteen-minute online questionnaire that provides data about students’ experiences, dispositions, and proficiencies in conducting effective academic research in a liberal arts setting. The instrument was developed by a group of librarians, classroom faculty, assessment professionals, and information technology professionals from eight NITLE participating institutions in Fall 2004. After piloting and revision in 2005 - 06, it was administered in 2006 - 07 in twenty different institutions. Half of them used the RPS to gather baseline data about the research practices of incoming first-years, before they had received any instruction in college-level academic research; the other half used it as both a “pre-test” and a “post-test,” administering the instrument to first-years at both the beginning and the end of their first year of college. Librarians and classroom faculty alike have found the results illuminating, and many are using the findings to inform and improve instruction.
Participating institutions can add up to ten of their own questions to the instrument. Item results permit comparisons between the responses of the institution’s own students and the aggregated responses of students from all other participating institutions. Institutions electing to participate in two administrations can also compare the responses of their entering first-years with the responses of their second cohort of participating students. They will also receive an Information Literacy Benchmarking Profile with composite measures of various dimensions of students’ research attitudes and abilities. Institutions will receive their own raw data as well as reports prepared by HEDS. Finally, participating institutions will be invited to share suggestions for further improvement to the instrument and the accompanying reports, so that it will be as useful as possible in future administrations.
Key Collaborators:
- Carleton College. Carolyn Sanford, Head of Reference and Instruction and Senior Lecturer; Baird E. Jarman, Assistant Professor of Art History
- Cornell College. Jean Donham, College Librarian and Professor
- Knox College. Jeffrey Douglas, Librarian of the College
- Lewis and Clark College. Dan Kelley, Coordinator of Outreach and Instruction
- St. Olaf College. Diane LeBlanc, Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and Director of Writing
- Swarthmore College. Pamela Harris, Instruction and Outreach Librarian
- Trinity University. Michelle Millet, Assistant Professor and Information Literacy Coordinator
- University of Puget Sound. Peggy Burge, Humanities Librarian and Instruction Coordinator
- Wellesley College. Megan Brooks Adams, Director of Research and Instruction
- Research Consultant. Shauna J. Sweet, University of Maryland
Summary:
- Data analysis: Completing the analysis and interpretation of the data gathered during the Spring 2007 inter-institutional administration of the Research Practices Survey, an innovative online tool for assessing the development of information literacy among students in liberal arts institutions, including the preparation of institutional and comparative survey results and benchmark reports for each institution.
- Supplemental research: Piloting and sharing findings from follow-up focus group interviews with students on two participating campuses (Carleton and St. Olaf), to “unpack” the on-line survey results. We selected Carleton and St. Olaf because (1) they have served as project leads to date, and (2) they are located in the same city. We plan to share and discuss the findings in a video-conference using NITLE’s MIV system.
- Faculty/staff development: Gathering from, and disseminating to, participating institutions information about the ways faculty and librarians are using RPS results to improve teaching and learning around information literacy.
- Feasibility study: In consultation with NITLE staff, conducting a feasibility study at St. Olaf College to determine whether and how St. Olaf could assume responsibility for the interinstitutional administration and data analysis associated with the Research Practices Survey in the future, depending on the outcome of NITLE’s anticipated assessment of its own future role in the FYILLAA project.
Key audience: Faculty and librarians who are using RPS results to improve teaching and learning around information literacy.
Intended outcomes:
- Educating students: Strengthen students’ information literacy by improving the instruction of first-year students through faculty and librarian consideration of FYILLAA pre-test and post-test data. The competencies that characterize information literacy are described on the assessment website of St. Olaf College.
- Educating faculty and staff: Inform faculty and librarians about dimensions of students’ information literacy prior to and after the first year of college; help faculty and staff gain experience in using assessment data to inform and improve instruction.
Project timeline:
- October 2007 – Research consultant completes data analysis and provides summary reports and information literacy benchmarks to participating institutions
- October – December 2007 – Participating institutions disseminate findings on campus and prepare reports for PI on what they shared, how, with whom, and likely effects; PI consults with NITLE staff, research analyst, and Information and Instructional Technologies staff at St. Olaf concerning future roles and responsibilities in sustaining the FYILLAA project as an inter-institutional collaboration
- November 2007 – Research consultant conducts focus groups with students at Carleton and St. Olaf; PI and research consultant conduct videoconference with participating institutions • January 2008 – PI and research consultant present project findings at AAC&U
- February - March – PI gathers reports from participating institutions on data dissemination and uses for instructional improvement
- April – PI provides final report to institutions and to NITLE
