ACRL 2013 Conference Notes: Contributed Papers on librarians, faculty, and assessment

ACRL Contributed Papers Group 2
Topics: Faculty and IL Rubrics, Assessment Leadership, and Instruction/Assessment
Date: Friday, April 12, 2013, 4:00pm

Again, reminder that the proceedings with the papers are at this link. I will be also linking the individual titles below, which lead to PDFs.

I. "'How is this different from critical thinking?': The Risks and Rewards of Deepening Faculty Involvement in an Information Literacy Rubric."

• While working with faculty, reinforce that librarians are educational experts and researchers (I will admit this is not always easy since often librarians can be their own worst enemies in this regard whether by just being shy or, as I have been subjected to, taking down other librarians and saying things such as "you are not a real teacher." By the way, I will put my teaching credentials up against any librarian or faculty out there any day, any time). We then gain benefit from faculty strengths.
• The paper reports on a study comparing how faculty and librarians score items on a rubric, their common elements and differences. 
• Difficulty in assessing how students evaluate sources. Librarians go across disciplines where faculty go deep in their discipline. (See, we are strong in different things, and that is good)
• Overall though, the study found few differences between the librarians and the faculty. 
• Risk of credibility and expertise. 
• Gains: librarians identified as peers. Advancing information literacy. 

II. "Becoming a Campus Assessment Leader: Collaborating for Campus Wide IL Assessment."

•  (I was interested in this paper to go along with what I learned in the preconference I did earlier in the week)
• A common problem on campuses is a lack of information literacy in campus curricular assessment.
• Note that the paper includes the survey instrument. 
• Survey distribution:
• Target specific departments. Start with the ones you have connections with. 
• End of semester distribution. 
• Stress that the assessment will not be used to judge faculty. 

III. "Just-in-time Instruction, Regular Reflection, and Integrated Assessment: A Sustainable Model for Student Growth."

• (I did not get a whole lot out of this presentation. We got referred to go online to find the handouts. This is one I need to read in full soon. By the way, the handout is in the conference schedule part as a PDF, which is not link-friendly. So here is the link to the program, hoping ACRL will not muck it up down the road. Way I see it, it should have been included with the paper's link to have it all in one place). 
• Paper reports on a collaboration between a faculty member and a librarian. 
• Embarking on parallel, non-communicated work does not really help our students.