The objective of this assessment was the continued investigation of instructional approaches to support the information literacy (IL) of students enrolled in credit-bearing courses. Utilizing full-text scholarly and authoritative information can indicate a level of IL fluency for college students. The following SLO's are commonly used here at Estrella to assist with measuring IL:
- By the end of library instruction, students will understand library services and navigate the EMCC Library's website.
- By the end of the online library instruction, students will be able to identify the components of online citations.
- Students will be able to utilize information from full-text articles and ebook databases.
In Fall 2022 I conducted a pilot study with a single section of ENC212. In this course, students had their information resources verified for reliability and authority against the CRAAP test ( Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose) with a librarian before completing their research paper. An analysis of citations in the final assignment found that only 54% of students' final papers passed the CRAAP test. Meaning, that some students might have ignored the feedback from the librarian who reviewed their information resources or did not seek out the assistance of a librarian. Based on this pilot study finding, I suggested to my ECN faculty that students begin their research with a librarian before gathering the information resources for their papers to see if this would improve their use of credible, reliable, authoritative, and relevant information that could support them in their development of IL.
In the AY23/24 students enrolled in ECN 211 and 212 classes were asked by the librarians to meet with them online (Ask a Librarian chat service) or in-person (Library Desk) at the beginning of their research paper process to identify at least 1 resource that would pass the CRAAP test. Taking students through the slow research process ensured that the instructional intervention ("reference interview") in support of the SLO's would be met and that students would leave the reference interview with at least 1 resource to begin their paper research.
In Spring 2024, an analysis of final paper resources (citations) for two f2f classes of ECN211 and 212 was conducted against the CRAAP test. It was discovered that 61% of students' final papers did pass the CRAAP test. This is an improvement over the pilot study in Fall 2022. This may indicate that the new intervention (reference interview at the beginning of the research) was effective.