Bonnie J. M. SwogerSUNY Geneseo

Using a standardized assessmentPros Cons

Time savings (no need to develop a new assessment from scratch)

Ability to compare with other schools

Assessment has already been validated

Cost Lack of access to

individual student data

Less flexibility

About Project SAILS

Standardized Assessment of Information Literacy Skills

Developed by Kent State University Assessment was independently

validated against SAT scores and another info. Lit. assessment.

www.projectsails.org $3 per student, max of $2000

About the Assessment

Each student answers 45 questions from a bank of 150.

30-60 minutes Knowledge based questions based on

ACRL information literacy standards Standards are further refined into 8 “skill

sets” Demographic questions

Class year Major Participation in a library instruction intensive

class

Sample Questions

Sample Questions cont.

Our administration of SAILS 200 students

Emails to students Flyers Appeals to faculty to offer extra credit $3 gift certificate to the library café or

$3 donation to student group charities Even distribution across class years Some majors represented better

than others

Results

Results are emailed as a PDF after the semester in which the assessment was administered.

Project SAILS calculates scores and margins of error.

Scores are separated based on demographic questions and Project SAILS skill sets.

Our Results

Students who had participated in a library instruction intensive class tend to do better than those who hadn’t This needs further examination, based on

the small number of students. Relatively little difference between

majors with the exception of Business majors who tended to score lower Very large margins of error

Our Results Continued

Students increase skills in four areas: Selecting Finding Tools Searching Retrieving Sources Documenting Sources

Little to no increase in four other areas: Developing a Research Strategy Using Finding Tool Features Evaluating Sources Understanding Issues

Conclusions

Challenge getting enough test takers for statistically significant results Collaboration with faculty and students groups

is important Our results are useful for library

administrators in justifying the personnel expense of the expanding instruction program.

We won’t be using the SAILS again now, but we may repeat it in a few years.

Results used to inform a new home-grown assessment for our Freshman writing class.