In October, we wrote a blog post about how we define information literacy at Project SAILS. We wanted to follow-up that post and discuss what we think it means to be information literate.
We agree with the standards and definitions Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) has laid out for information literacy, which is the reason we chose to base our test items off the ACRL information literacy standards. ACRL has also developed a set of performance indicators and outcomes that tie into each of its five standards. These indicators and outcomes give a clear indication of whether a student is defined as being information literate or in need of additional information literacy instruction.
Those institutions testing their students with our cohort assessment of information literacy receive a report with results broken out by ACRL standard and by a unique grouping of eight skill sets. We created the Project SAILS skills sets by regrouping the ACRL standards, performance indicators, outcomes, and objectives. The re-grouped skill sets give institutions a clearer picture of the specific skill(s) students are struggling most with, giving faculty and academic librarians the ability to tailor IL instruction to the specific needs of their students. Our hope is that by forming these skill sets, the data you receive is more practical because you are able to easily identify and target the weakest skill areas, such as developing a research strategy, retrieving sources, evaluating sources, and so on.
To see examples of the test reporting based on ACRL standards and our skill sets, download a sample report.
Our individual assessment of information literacy uses a different measure to determine the information literacy skills of the students tested. Each report contains a list of questions asked, an overall score, and an indicator of which questions each student got right. The overall score is framed within a scale to determine the information literacy for each student. The three levels are as follows:
- Below Proficiency Level: Lower than 70%
- Proficiency Level: 70% - 84%
- Mastery Level: 85% or Higher
These performance measures are provided in order to give test administrators context for the scores of their students and to indicate whether a student is information literate. The skill sets used for the cohort assessment are unavailable for the individual assessment because there are not enough data with a single student or even a single class. Want more information about what the reporting looks like? Click to see a sample report for our individual assessment of information.
Both of our information literacy test formats, individual and cohort, have been designed in order to provide you with a clear indication of the information literacy skills of your students, pinpoint the weak and strong areas, highlight growth following IL sessions with pre/post testing, and provide faculty and academic librarians with insights into the areas to focus your IL instruction around.
Register today to test your students with the Project SAILS information literacy test!