Month: November 2015

I presented a session at LOEX Fall Focus on Friday, November 13, about our analysis of the Framework and our work on creating dispositional items along with knowledge items for each of our modules.  I was honored to get to represent the efforts of our Advisory Board members and consultants, some of whom have been working on the test for more than a year and a half already.

We got a great crowd at my session, including librarians who were new to the Framework as well as people like Merinda Hensley, Sharon Mader, and Lisa Hinchliffe, who’ve been thinking about IL standards, frames, and concepts for a long time.  It was great to hear from librarians who are interested in trying out our test.  I also was energized by feedback I received from several librarians who felt that we were contributing useful ideas to the larger discussion about assessing IL through the analysis we’ve done to develop outcomes, performance indicators, and situational disposition item scenarios that are inspired by the Framework.

The image below is a link to the pdf of my presentation slides.  Please email me if you’d like any additional information about what I discussed.

After my session, I had the pleasure of chatting with a few colleagues who asked critical questions, offered constructive observations, and generally got me excited to get back to writing new items and refining our outcomes.  Because I was so involved in the discussion, I missed the second breakout session.  But the following are my reflections on all the other sessions I got to attend.

It was a wonderful conference!  Thank you, Brad Seitz, Teague Orblych, Bill Marino, and Ben Oberdick, and all of the other conference volunteers, for making it a fantastic event.
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Over the past several months our team has been been focused on defining the performance indicators that reveal students’ information literacy knowledge practices.  From these indicators, we wrote dozens of critical thinking, problem solving, and knowledge-based test items.  Now we’re able to use results from our early field tests, such as the length of time students need to answer each question and the fit between the item and its performance indicator, to be selective about which indicators and items will move forward.  Our updated versions of the first two modules (Evaluating Process & Authority and Strategic Searching) will be ready for continued field testing this month.

Meanwhile, our third module, Research & Scholarship, is taking shape.  We’ve drafted scenario-based items to measure the following situational dispositions: Feeling Responsible to Community, Mindful Self-Reflection, and Grit.  And our item reviewers are currently preparing feedback on drafts of questions about how to use information responsibly, how knowledge evolves through inquiry, and how iteration fits into the research process.

In my next update, I’ll share insights from the LOEX Fall Focus Conference, coming up on November 13 and 14.  I’m presenting at 1:45pm on Friday.  My session is titled “Affective and Effective: How One Test of Information Literacy is Taking the Dispositions Head-on,” and I’ll share the slides in this blog when I return from Ypsilanti.

While I’m gone, please join the growing list of institutions that will be field testing one or more of the test modules this year.  You can get more information at the TATIL website.