Organized Chaos:

1
Freshmen OrientationMeets Information Management
Presented by Kerrie Fergen Wilkes Reference and
Instruction Librarian SUNY College At
Fredonia SUNY General Education Conference
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• Information Literacy A New York State
  initiative.
• Provosts Advisory Council for General Education
  Programs.
• 10 different learning outcomes and 2 competencies
• Information Management is now a competency
  requirement.
• Students will
• 1. Perform basic operations of personal
  computer use
• 2. Understand and use basic research techniques
  
• 3. Locate, evaluate, and synthesize information
  from a variety of sources.

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Heading the Committee

• Fall 2001 I am naïve.
• The original committee had dissolved.
• The Information Management component was on our
  first-year cycle. Results were needed to report
  at the beginning of the Spring 2003 semester.
• Spring 2002The committee now had new leadership.
• Other members had been involved with assessment
  previously.
• I understood the importance of Information
  Literacy

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Daniel A. Reed Librarys Philosophy of Library
Instruction

• Our philosophy is based on the Association of
  College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Information
  Literacy Competency Standards for Higher
  Education.
• Our philosophy is employed to ensure that the
  students at SUNY Fredonia gain the skills
  necessary to create a sophisticated search
  strategy, determine if they have chosen the
  appropriate databases, and learn to retrieve
  scholarly articles published in peer-reviewed or
  refereed journals.

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ACRLs Information Literacy Competency Standards
For Higher Education
Standard One The Information Literate student determines the nature and extent of the information needed.
Standard Two The information literate student accesses needed information effectively and efficiently.
Standard Three The information literate student evaluates information and its sources critically and incorporates selected information into his or her knowledge base.
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Outline for evaluating the content of
Information Management for any given applicable
CCC course

1. Identify Sources
2. Evaluate Sources
3. Search Sources
4. Refine the Search
5. Organize and store information
6. Format the Information
7. Analyze the Information
8. Disseminate the Information

• What is the most effective way to assess all of
  these components for all CCC courses?

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Approaching the Assessment of Information
Management

• Assess outside of a particular discipline.
• Skills are across the curriculum
• What do we want to know and who do we assess?
• What skills do students come to Fredonia with
• How do Core courses affect their Information
  Management Skills
• Pre/Post test
• Freshmen at orientation v. Second Semester
  Sophomores

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Creating the Assessment Tool

• Searched for examples from other colleges. Most
  assessment tools came from Libraries.
• Consulted
• Cal Poly Pomona University Library Information
  Competency Assessment test
• Lesley University Evaluating Web Sites
• Weber State University. Stewart Library
  Information Literacy Competencies and sample
  exam questions
• ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards
  for Higher Education

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Composing the Assessment Tool

• Individual work v. Multiple Choice
• Who would score? What format?
• Op-Scan, SPSS
• The breakdown of the 8 components were used as a
  skeleton.
• Each question correlated with one of the eight
  components, which are a sub-set of the 3
  information management components.

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Composing Continued

• MADNESS
• I
• TELL
• YOU!

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The Assessment Instrument is Born
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General Idea of the Assessment Tool

• 32 multiple-choice questions.
• 12 questions do not require the use of the
  computer.
• The remaining questions focused on
• Online Catalog
• Wilson OmniFile (Online Database)
• Evaluating two websites

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Basic Computer Skills Question Example

• Using the tools available through Wilson
  OmniFile, please e-mail this citation to the
  following address reedref_at_fredonia.edu
• Please put your first name and last name in the
  subject area that is provided.

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Basic Research Question Example
Please use the following citation to answer
questions 11 12.   Weinoldt, Kirsten. 1968
For Ever. Brazzil 10 (1998) 14. 11. What is
the volume number in the above citation? A.
14 B. 1998 C. 10 D. 1968   12. What is the
journal title in the above citation?   A. 1968
For Ever B. Brazzil C. Weinoldt D. Unable
to be determined
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Online Navigation and Interpretation Question
Example
After viewing both pages relating to Mankato,
Minnesota, which would you use when planning a
trip to the city?  

• A. Mankato, Minnesota Home Page
• http//lme.mankato.msus.edu/mankato/mankato.html
•  
• City of Mankato, Minnesota
• http//www.ci.mankato.mn.us/

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The Three Components

• Basic Computer Skills
• HTML v. PDF
• Using Drop-Down menus
• E-mail an article from a database
• Basic Research Skills
• Boolean Phrasing
• Identify citation styles and content
• Navigate an Online Catalog
• Locating, Evaluating and Synthesizing Information
• Navigate and interpret results from a database
• Navigate two web sites and evaluate their content
• Locate an online article and evaluate its content

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Early Challenges

• Human Subjects
• Online Certification
• IRB Proposal
• NO MINORS A Waiver is needed

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Let the Collaboration Begin

• The Sample Test
• The Head Of Circulation
• 9 Work Study Students

• 18 year old friend of the family

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Intense Planning

• Large pool at our disposal.
• Test all incoming Freshmen
• Transfer? Drop-outs? Not available for
  post-test?
• Collaboration

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Freshmen Orientation

• Four Sessions
• Each Session is two days
• First Day
• 800 a.m arrival
• All students are in the same sessions all day
• Second Day
• 800 a.m, again
• Sessions are in rotation

• Where Will Assessment Fit Into this full
  schedule?

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Academic Advising

• Contacted the Associate Dean, and Director of
  Academic Advising
• A lot of negotiating
• We are given times during the second day
• 430-530600 dinnertesting is 40 minutesrule
  of thumb.
• This makes things more challengingall of the
  students will be tested concurrently.

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Really, It will be fun.
Help! Fredonia Needs You! What should college
students know About Information Management? By
Soliciting your opinion through computer and
online database searching, youll help us develop
a better College Core Curriculum. So get That
mouse finger ready and thanks for teaching us
about you.
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Academic Information Technology

• Director of Academic Information Technology
• Jumping ahead of the game.
• Identify rooms that will workcant interfere
  with Registrar.
• All over campus.proctors are needed for each
  room (the Library needs two)
• Available computers 25, 30, 25, 38, 18, 21

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Director of Campus Life

• Organizes the training of Orientation
• Removal of 18 year oldscolored dots
• Training session for Assessment.
• Assure students that this in no way impacts their
  status at Fredonia.
• Make sure to take students to the correct areas.
• No explanation of the test to the students
• Stay with the group until the end.

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Coordinator of Disability Services

• Visually Impaired Student at the first session
• Assessment test needs reformatting
• Zoomtext Extra
• Assists student with software
• Test scored by hand, then transferred to Op-Scan

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BEGGING

• Summer
• 9 month appointment
• 2 faculty members
• Librarians (we are 12 month)
• Graduate students

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Training Instructors

• Materials are coming in boxes
• Be early to organize rooms
• Read the directions to students
• Students must stay for length
• No helping or further explanation
• Watch for Instant Messaging.
• Room Assignments

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Organization Galore
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More Challenges

• No air conditioning
• Orientation Groups are lateproctors leave
• Make sure rooms are open
• Reed Library closes at 400
• Too many students sent to one location
• Computer breakdowns.
• No cell phones/phones dont work
• Wilson Omnifile doesnt cooperate.

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Finale

• E-mail downloaded and printed
• Test scored in an SPSS file
• Interpreted by Psychology Faculty
• Wrote up pre-test results

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Pre-test Data

• On the average, student performed as follows
  (from Highest to Lowest)
• Basic Research
• Locating, Evaluating and Synthesizing Information
• Basic Operations of a Computer

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Next steps

• Only preliminary datano recommendations at this
  time.
• Post-test next semester
• The committee has begun to discuss recruitment.
• Looking for 20-25 post-test with incentives.
• Looking forward to working with the same
  departments to create a successful post-test
  environment.

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Questions?

• Kerrie Fergen Wilkes, MLS
• Senior Assistant Librarian
• Reference and Bibliographic Instruction
• SUNY College at Fredonia
• 716-673-3199
• Kerrie.Wilkes_at_fredonia.edu

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Bibliography

• ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards
  for Higher Education
• http//www.ala.org/acrl/ilstandardlo.html
• Cal Poly Pomona University Library
• http//www.csupomona.edu/library/InfoComp/instrum
  ent.htm 
• Lesley University Evaluating Web Sites
• http//www.lesley.edu/library/guides/research/eval
  uating_web.html 
• State University of New York Assessment
  Initiative Report of the Provosts Advisory Task
  Force on the Assessment of Student Learning
  Outcomes
• http//www.cortland.edu/gear/supportdocs.html
• Weber State University, Stewart Library
  Information Literacy Competencies
• http//library.weber.edu/il/infolit/infolitcomp/de
  fault.cfm
•