Welcome to this report on information literacy assessment at James Madison University.
Information literacy is a combination of skills knowledge and dispositions that help students at JMU navigate a complicated university information landscape.
These skills are necessary to meet the university's mission to help students become educated and enlightened citizens.
New to college students need guidance figuring out what kinds of sources matter in higher education settings.
Some information is better than others and some information is actually misinformation.
We need students to be able to figure out the difference between high quality information and noise.
At JMU we define information literacy via these learning outcomes that are embedded in the first year of the general education program.
Courses required in the first year are considered to be foundational to a student's experience.
JMU chose this learning domain as one of our first to report on because we have been doing this kind of work for over 20 years.
We have much experience assessing student learning in this area of our core curriculum.
Our information literacy curriculum is not delivered by a class.
But a tutorial test model both the tutorials and the tests are mapped directly to one of our information literacy learning outcomes.
First-year students are assigned to view video tutorials called the Madison Research Essentials Toolkit.
Faculty who teach in the 100 level human communication course assign these tutorials to their students in their sections.
Ninety-nine percent of our students take the human communication course in their first year.
The toolkit has two parts: video tutorials and practice exercises
The videos cover information literacy concepts in theory, while the practice exercises asked students to apply what they have learned.
The video tutorial content is publicly available on the JMU libraries website.
This is an example of a question from the practice exercises. After students review the video tutorials and practice with the exercise sets, they are ready to be tested on their competencies.
They do this by completing the Madison research essentials skills test or the MREST
The MREST is a psychometrically sound instrument that is reviewed by assessment testing faculty to ensure that scores are reliable and
interpretations are valid.
Students take the MREST in our proctored testing center using our faculty created testing platform. Once students take the MREST
they are told whether or not they met the standard or passed. If they passed their scores are then uploaded to our student information system
and noted on their transcripts. Students can pass at the proficient level or at advanced.
JMU faculty librarians and general education faculty are proud of these results.
Our students are achieving the learning outcomes.
Our testing system allows us to see how well students do by each learning outcome.
This information allows faculty librarians to make tweaks to tutorial content to better assess students to achieve competency.
You might wonder don't students who grew up as digital natives already know this stuff? Our data indicates that they don't.
We use a modified version of the MREST, the INFOCORE,
to test a sample of students to see where their skills are when they arrived on campus.
Entering students are given the INFOCORE when they come to JMU and these same students take it again three semesters later.
Our data indicates that students don't arrive with these skills and retain them through their sophomore and junior years.
Faculty librarians and general education faculty are proud of these gains.
Some students struggle with the MREST requirement.
Our assessment
data tells us that certain student populations have difficulty with our tests.
These populations get specifically designed interventions in order to assist them with this graduation requirement.
Faculty librarians use this data to make changes to tutorial content and design interventions targeted for these populations.
Peer tutors in the JMU Communication Center are specifically trained to assist other students with the MREST.
These peer tutors have access to the toolkit practice
exercises and can cover content one-on-one with another student in a low-stress setting. If they need more assistance,
they are directed at the first-year librarian for additional tutoring.
JMU's commitment to improving information literacy skills doesn't stop in general education.
Faculty librarians work hard with their disciplinary partners to design teaching experiences that help students hone these skills specific to their major.
Partners from across campus are key to this collaborative effort.
Faculty librarians are responsible for the content of the tutorial and the test.
Librarians work closely with general education curricular bodies and administration.
Communication Center peer tutors are the first line of defense for students who are struggling to meet the MREST requirement.
Faculty who teach in the basic communication course introduce students to the tutorial content and the test requirement.
JMU's Center for Assessment and Research Studies faculty work with faculty librarians and general education
to ensure the integrity of the MREST and the INFOCORE as well as help us interpret data about how well our students
are meeting learning outcomes.
The general education program in administration oversee the JMU core curriculum and the
administrative office is responsible for uploading MREST scores to the student information system.
These collaborative efforts are the key to our success.
Thank you!
