**4.1 Planning and designing assessment**

Gunawardena and LaPointe (2003) identify questions that all distance learning instructors should answer during the early stages of planning the assessments that will be used in their online courses. These questions are:


All sorts of unforeseen situations could adversely impact the successful implementation of assessment in an online distance learning course. Therefore assessment should be planned and designed carefully and thoroughly before implementation takes place. Answering the questions listed above during the process of planning goes a long way towards assuring successful implementation of the assessment. The instructors of LIBR 1100 use this list of questions to assist them in planning their assessment goals, a task which takes place during the "summer planning" stage of their yearly cycle.

The LIBR 1100 instructors are always on the lookout for any conflicts or inconsistencies among the answers to these questions. Conflicts or inconsistencies may lead to course

The instructors who teach LIBR 1100 participate as team members in the process of continuously discovering student needs and expectations and improving the course's content, teaching, and learning. This team effort has evolved over the years into a structured yearly cycle of planning, developing, marketing, implementing, assessing, and improving all aspects of the course. The data collected from the various assessment methods play an important role in the process. The instructors recently started using the seven stages of Megan Oakleaf's (2009) instruction assessment cycle as a resource to assist in improving their process. These stages include reviewing learning goals, identifying learning outcomes, creating learning activities, enacting learning activities, gathering data to check learning, interpreting data, and enacting decisions (Oakleaf, 2009, pp. 541-545). The stages are incorporated into the process when and where feasible. In the near future, Blackboard Learn, the assessment module in Blackboard, will be used to track students enrolled in LIBR 1100 and will facilitate accurate reporting of the Library's impact on the learning and

Gunawardena and LaPointe (2003) identify questions that all distance learning instructors should answer during the early stages of planning the assessments that will be used in their

How will assessment match the course's learning objectives and instructional

What tools and resources are needed to support the students as they complete the

All sorts of unforeseen situations could adversely impact the successful implementation of assessment in an online distance learning course. Therefore assessment should be planned and designed carefully and thoroughly before implementation takes place. Answering the questions listed above during the process of planning goes a long way towards assuring successful implementation of the assessment. The instructors of LIBR 1100 use this list of questions to assist them in planning their assessment goals, a task which takes place during

The LIBR 1100 instructors are always on the lookout for any conflicts or inconsistencies among the answers to these questions. Conflicts or inconsistencies may lead to course

teaching that takes place at Texas Tech University (Oakleaf, 2011, pp. 76-77).

What learning theories underlie the assessment and instructional strategies?

What process, product, or use of resources must the students demonstrate?

Can students choose from an instructor-provided selection of assignments?

Will students require feedback before proceeding to the next assignment?

What will be considered evidence of learning in the course?

 What kind of coaching and managing will be required? Will remediation and supplemental help be provided?

Will assessment be based on independent or collaborative learning?

**4.1 Planning and designing assessment** 

What role will standards play in assessment?

 Will the assessment be self-paced or timed? Will students complete the same assignments?

the "summer planning" stage of their yearly cycle.

online courses. These questions are:

strategies?

assignments?

**4. Background** 

failure if they are ignored. A self-paced course may not be successful if collaborative projects or weekly class discussions are required. Independent project assignments may cause diminished participation in class discussions. Assigning weekly projects may cause delays and a backlog of work for the instructors. This last conflict could result in some students proceeding to subsequent assignments before receiving important instructor feedback and grades. In looking for conflicts and inconsistencies during assessment planning, plagiarism must be an ever present concern instructors of online courses must face. Are the assessment methods designed to discourage, if not eliminate, cheating. LIBR 1100 instructors have found the list of questions to be a very helpful tool that facilitates successful assessment planning.

Additional considerations in planning assessment for online distance learning courses include the role communications technology will play. Does the technology facilitate the successful implementation of assessments? Multimedia technology provides multiple formats that appeal to a variety of learning styles. Graphics, images, maps, audio, and video used to convey course content or incorporated into learning activities can also be posted in online tests. Do these multimedia formats slow down the response rates of the system? Students want technology that works well and quickly, and enhances their learning. These technology concerns must also be addressed during assessment planning.

#### **4.2 Kinds of online assessment**

#### **4.2.1 Quizzes and tests**

Instructors often assign students quizzes or tests to assess their knowledge of facts or understanding of concepts. They may or may not be timed, proctored, or graded. They can be taken online using a course management system like Blackboard, mailed to the students' homes, or proctored at some designated location by an authorized individual. Identity and security issues are major concerns that should be taken into consideration when planning a test that will be taken at a distance. Some instructors use security checks such as retinal scans; facial identification using thermographs; voice, palm, or fingerprint recognition; or, in the case of tests that require writing, analyses of the writing performed at intervals throughout the term. However, the technologies supporting these options can be expensive. Accessing quizzes and tests with passwords or generating a different test for each student who logs in may provide at least some degree of security in Web-based testing. However, these options are not completely secure against cheating. In the final analysis, the instructor never knows for sure who is taking tests at a distance. This drawback has also been an ongoing concern of instructors who teach in traditional classrooms. Nevertheless quizzes and tests constitute an effective way to test knowledge and understanding.

#### **4.2.2 Online chats and discussions**

Online chats and conference calls between students and instructor provide opportunities for discussion, negotiation of meaning, validation of understanding, and assessment. Some instructors place significant weight on the quality of student participation in these chat and conference discussions. They enable the instructor to discover what students are thinking and to determine if any of the students are having problems learning. With this kind of information the instructor is able to give help on the spot and provide remediation.

Assessment Methods of Student Learning

reviewing the sources.

in Web-Based Distance Courses: A Case Study 193

During the planning process he or she must first determine whether a practical skill can realistically be assessed at a distance. If this is impossible, the instructor should make arrangements for the assessment to be conducted in the presence of a qualified person. An example of a case where a qualified person should be present for assessment is airline pilot training. While simulators provide safe practice sessions, flying skills can be demonstrated

The instructors who teach the distance section of LIBR 1100 have used various assessment methods over the years, some of them consistently from one year to the next. The annotated bibliography assignment and the practicums are used regularly and represent authentic assessment of skills the instructors believe are important for the students to learn. They are interrelated. The students complete the practicums in an ordered series and are graded on how well they do on each one. However, in doing the practicums, they are actually performing the research and documentation that are required in the annotated bibliography assignment. The students begin early in the term choosing a topic, creating a thesis for a fictitious paper that the bibliography supports, and determining keywords and strategies for searching databases that they use to find sources for their bibliography. When they reach the point where they begin compiling their bibliography, the students have to choose a standard style manual from a small selection of two or three and use it to establish the citations in their bibliography. The final step is writing annotations for their citations, and this requires

This work is done one step at a time following a process the instructors have built into the course. Not only does the process help students learn how to do research and create an annotated bibliography that includes several different kinds of sources for their topic but it also enables the instructor to monitor the students' acquisition of knowledge and development of research skills step by step so that remediation can be offered at any time

The majority of the distance students enrolled in LIBR 1100 over the years have done well on the practicums and annotated bibliography assignment. Perhaps this is because several of the course readings explain how to do the research required by the assignments. The one weakness is that grading rubrics have not yet been developed for the instructors to use when grading them. Such rubrics would assure a more uniform procedure for grading students, more effectively assure that the course learning-outcomes objectives are being met, and could even be used by the students for guidance in what they are expected to do to successfully complete the assignments. Development of grading rubrics for all the practicums and the annotated bibliography assignment began in the summer of 2011.

In addition to the authentic performance assessment accomplished by way of the practicums and bibliography, the distance section of LIBR 1100 has several reading assignments available on the course's Blackboard site. The readings are titled "Campus Libraries and the

7 Several ideas and examples discussed in section 4.2 come from Gunawardena, C. & LaPointe, D. (2003). Planning and Management of Student Assessment, In: *Planning and Management in Distance* 

*Education*, S. Panda, (Ed.), pp. 195-205, Kogan Page, ISBN 0-7494-4068-6, London, UK

during the research process and also to monitor for cheating and plagiarism.

and assessed only when flying an actual airplane with an assessor present.7

**4.2.6 Assessment in the online section of LIBR 1100** 

Assessment of student contributions during chats or discussions can sometimes be challenging despite their obvious instructional benefits. For example, instructors may not always be available to monitor discussion sessions. Online course management systems such as Blackboard provide quantitative measures that report the number of times each student accesses a discussion and the total number of conference comments read and posted. However, the number of times discussions are accessed or comments are posted reflects neither the quality of the student's participation in the online class discussion nor the degree to which the students learned or met the requirements of the course. Therefore, instructors must always participate as a monitor if effective assessment is to take place.

#### **4.2.3 Problem-based learning and case-based reasoning**

In some distance learning courses the application of knowledge to solve an authentic problem in the Web-based environment is assessed.5 Problem-based learning and casebased learning often require students to find information in order to solve a problem that is encountered by practitioners of the discipline. The search for information can involve reading or listening; conducting interviews or experiments; searching for information in libraries, databases, and Websites; or the acquisition of experience through service learning.6 Assessment of student performance and learning in problem solving assignments can be problematic when done at a distance. Again, such things as security and accountability are major concerns that should be worked out during the planning process.

#### **4.2.4 Role playing**

Role playing using either Web technology or interactive television (ITV) is another way of assessing the application of knowledge in the real world. It is important for instructors to state the goal of the role playing, define its problem, set the scene, create the roles, and assign them. Students research the problem, their roles, and perhaps set goals for their role. Instructors, sometimes with input from students, establish the grading rubric. Assessment in this category can also be problematic, depending on how well the assessment procedure has been planned. Also, expensive technology is often required for this method of assessment.

#### **4.2.5 Practical skills and laboratory experiences**

One of the most challenging areas of assessment is figuring out how to assess practical skills or laboratory experiences at a distance. The instructor who gives these kinds of assignments must consider all accountability issues, especially if certification at a distance is involved.

 5 In problem-based learning students study a subject in the context of complex and realistic problems. Working in groups, they identify what they need to know and how and where to access new information that may lead to resolution of the problem. The role of the instructor is that of a facilitator. Case-based learning is similar. It involves complex problems created to stimulate classroom discussion and collaborative analysis. Through interaction, students explore realistic and specific situations. As they consider problems that require analysis, they strive to resolve questions that may have no single answer.

<sup>6</sup> Service learning is a method of teaching, learning, and reflecting that combines academic classroom curriculum with meaningful service, frequently youth service, throughout the community.

Assessment of student contributions during chats or discussions can sometimes be challenging despite their obvious instructional benefits. For example, instructors may not always be available to monitor discussion sessions. Online course management systems such as Blackboard provide quantitative measures that report the number of times each student accesses a discussion and the total number of conference comments read and posted. However, the number of times discussions are accessed or comments are posted reflects neither the quality of the student's participation in the online class discussion nor the degree to which the students learned or met the requirements of the course. Therefore, instructors must always participate as a monitor if effective assessment is to take place.

In some distance learning courses the application of knowledge to solve an authentic problem in the Web-based environment is assessed.5 Problem-based learning and casebased learning often require students to find information in order to solve a problem that is encountered by practitioners of the discipline. The search for information can involve reading or listening; conducting interviews or experiments; searching for information in libraries, databases, and Websites; or the acquisition of experience through service learning.6 Assessment of student performance and learning in problem solving assignments can be problematic when done at a distance. Again, such things as security and accountability are

Role playing using either Web technology or interactive television (ITV) is another way of assessing the application of knowledge in the real world. It is important for instructors to state the goal of the role playing, define its problem, set the scene, create the roles, and assign them. Students research the problem, their roles, and perhaps set goals for their role. Instructors, sometimes with input from students, establish the grading rubric. Assessment in this category can also be problematic, depending on how well the assessment procedure has been planned. Also, expensive technology is often required for this method of

One of the most challenging areas of assessment is figuring out how to assess practical skills or laboratory experiences at a distance. The instructor who gives these kinds of assignments must consider all accountability issues, especially if certification at a distance is involved.

5 In problem-based learning students study a subject in the context of complex and realistic problems. Working in groups, they identify what they need to know and how and where to access new

information that may lead to resolution of the problem. The role of the instructor is that of a facilitator. Case-based learning is similar. It involves complex problems created to stimulate classroom discussion and collaborative analysis. Through interaction, students explore realistic and specific situations. As they consider problems that require analysis, they strive to resolve questions that may have no single

6 Service learning is a method of teaching, learning, and reflecting that combines academic classroom

curriculum with meaningful service, frequently youth service, throughout the community.

**4.2.3 Problem-based learning and case-based reasoning** 

major concerns that should be worked out during the planning process.

**4.2.5 Practical skills and laboratory experiences** 

**4.2.4 Role playing** 

assessment.

answer.

During the planning process he or she must first determine whether a practical skill can realistically be assessed at a distance. If this is impossible, the instructor should make arrangements for the assessment to be conducted in the presence of a qualified person. An example of a case where a qualified person should be present for assessment is airline pilot training. While simulators provide safe practice sessions, flying skills can be demonstrated and assessed only when flying an actual airplane with an assessor present.7

## **4.2.6 Assessment in the online section of LIBR 1100**

The instructors who teach the distance section of LIBR 1100 have used various assessment methods over the years, some of them consistently from one year to the next. The annotated bibliography assignment and the practicums are used regularly and represent authentic assessment of skills the instructors believe are important for the students to learn. They are interrelated. The students complete the practicums in an ordered series and are graded on how well they do on each one. However, in doing the practicums, they are actually performing the research and documentation that are required in the annotated bibliography assignment. The students begin early in the term choosing a topic, creating a thesis for a fictitious paper that the bibliography supports, and determining keywords and strategies for searching databases that they use to find sources for their bibliography. When they reach the point where they begin compiling their bibliography, the students have to choose a standard style manual from a small selection of two or three and use it to establish the citations in their bibliography. The final step is writing annotations for their citations, and this requires reviewing the sources.

This work is done one step at a time following a process the instructors have built into the course. Not only does the process help students learn how to do research and create an annotated bibliography that includes several different kinds of sources for their topic but it also enables the instructor to monitor the students' acquisition of knowledge and development of research skills step by step so that remediation can be offered at any time during the research process and also to monitor for cheating and plagiarism.

The majority of the distance students enrolled in LIBR 1100 over the years have done well on the practicums and annotated bibliography assignment. Perhaps this is because several of the course readings explain how to do the research required by the assignments. The one weakness is that grading rubrics have not yet been developed for the instructors to use when grading them. Such rubrics would assure a more uniform procedure for grading students, more effectively assure that the course learning-outcomes objectives are being met, and could even be used by the students for guidance in what they are expected to do to successfully complete the assignments. Development of grading rubrics for all the practicums and the annotated bibliography assignment began in the summer of 2011.

In addition to the authentic performance assessment accomplished by way of the practicums and bibliography, the distance section of LIBR 1100 has several reading assignments available on the course's Blackboard site. The readings are titled "Campus Libraries and the

<sup>7</sup> Several ideas and examples discussed in section 4.2 come from Gunawardena, C. & LaPointe, D. (2003). Planning and Management of Student Assessment, In: *Planning and Management in Distance Education*, S. Panda, (Ed.), pp. 195-205, Kogan Page, ISBN 0-7494-4068-6, London, UK

Assessment Methods of Student Learning

Performance Indicators

Performance Indicators

information.

Performance Indicators

concepts.

differences.

information.

potential sources for information.

the needed information.

designed search strategies.

using a variety of methods.

information and its sources.

from the information gathered.

characteristics of the information.

information need.

Standard One

Standard Two

Standard Three

needed.

in Web-Based Distance Courses: A Case Study 195

The information literate student determines the nature and extent of the information

1.1 The information literate student defines and articulates the need for

1.2 The information literate student identifies a variety of types and formats of

1.3 The information literate student considers the costs and benefits of acquiring

1.4 The information literate student reevaluates the nature and extent of the

2.1 The information literate student selects the most appropriate investigative methods or information retrieval systems for accessing the needed

2.2 The information literate student constructs and implements effectively-

2.3 The information literate student retrieves information online or in person

2.4 The information literate student refines the search strategy if necessary. 2.5 The information literate student extracts, records, and manages the

The information literate student evaluates information and its sources critically and

3.1 The information literate student summarizes the main ideas to be extracted

3.2 The information literate student articulates and applies initial criteria for

3.3 The information literate student synthesizes main ideas to construct new

knowledge to determine the value added, contradictions, or other unique

3.5 The information literate student determines whether the new knowledge has an impact on the individual's value system and takes steps to reconcile

3.4 The information literate student compares new knowledge with prior

incorporates selected information into his or her knowledge base and value system.

evaluating both the information and its sources.

The information literate student accesses needed information effectively and efficiently.

Research Process," "Writing a Thesis Statement," "Search Strategies," "Controlled Vocabulary," "Proper Citing," "Ethical Use of Information," "The Information Cycle," "Newspaper Articles," "Popular Magazines and Scholarly Journals," "Documents and Books," "Encyclopedias," and "Critical Evaluation of Sources." The "Information Cycle" reading assignment provides structure for the three reading assignments that follow it. These readings provide information on how to search databases. The students use these databases to find sources on the topic they choose for their annotated bibliography. Quizzes following the required readings are used not only to assess comprehension but also to reinforce course content. The students are also required to participate in discussions. However the discussions are not assessed.

The instructors of LIBR 1100 decided to begin measuring student learning outcomes with pre- and post-assessment tests in the fall of 2008, and have continued using the tests each term. The intent of the tests is to determine as objectively as possible whether students enrolled in the distance section of LIBR 1100 are learning what the instructors teaching the section intend for them to learn. Specifically, the pre- and post-assessment tests focus on determining what distance students are learning from studying the reading assignments, so they also conduct the kind of knowledge assessment that the quizzes perform, though more thoroughly.

Each of the student learning-outcome objectives of LIBR 1100's distance section specifically address one or more of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (See Table 1 for the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education and their performance indicators). Objective one, "Students will be able to identify and articulate their information needs," covers Standard one, including most, if not all, of the performance indicators listed under that Standard. Objective two, "Students will develop a knowledge base regarding the collections and services of the Texas Tech University Libraries," is meant to respond to all of the performance indicators in Standard two. Objective three, "Students will use information effectively to accomplish research goals and to develop life-long learning," addresses standard four, including all of its performance indicators. Objective four, "Students will demonstrate the ability to critically evaluate and ethically apply information" is meant to respond to all the performance indicators of Standards three and five.

Similarly, each pre- and post-assessment test question addresses particular ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards, performance indicators, and course learningoutcome objectives. Questions one and five address Standard two, performance indicator 2.2 (course outcome objective 2) (See Tables 2 and 3 for the relationships between the course outcome objectives, the Standards, and test questions, and for the measurements of success in teaching the course content based on what the student answers to the test questions indicate they had learned). Questions two, eight, nine, ten, and eleven are meant to respond to Standard two, performance indicator 2.1 (course outcome objective 2). Questions three and seven address Standard three, performance indicator 3.2 (course outcome objective 4). Questions four and fifteen address Standard two, performance indicator 2.3 (course outcome objective 2). Questions six and thirteen address Standard one, performance indicator 1.2 (course outcome objective 1). Finally, Questions twelve and fourteen address Standard two, performance indicator 2.5 (course outcome objective 2).

#### Standard One

194 International Perspectives of Distance Learning in Higher Education

Research Process," "Writing a Thesis Statement," "Search Strategies," "Controlled Vocabulary," "Proper Citing," "Ethical Use of Information," "The Information Cycle," "Newspaper Articles," "Popular Magazines and Scholarly Journals," "Documents and Books," "Encyclopedias," and "Critical Evaluation of Sources." The "Information Cycle" reading assignment provides structure for the three reading assignments that follow it. These readings provide information on how to search databases. The students use these databases to find sources on the topic they choose for their annotated bibliography. Quizzes following the required readings are used not only to assess comprehension but also to reinforce course content. The students are also required to participate in discussions.

The instructors of LIBR 1100 decided to begin measuring student learning outcomes with pre- and post-assessment tests in the fall of 2008, and have continued using the tests each term. The intent of the tests is to determine as objectively as possible whether students enrolled in the distance section of LIBR 1100 are learning what the instructors teaching the section intend for them to learn. Specifically, the pre- and post-assessment tests focus on determining what distance students are learning from studying the reading assignments, so they also conduct the kind of knowledge assessment that the quizzes perform, though more

Each of the student learning-outcome objectives of LIBR 1100's distance section specifically address one or more of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (See Table 1 for the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education and their performance indicators). Objective one, "Students will be able to identify and articulate their information needs," covers Standard one, including most, if not all, of the performance indicators listed under that Standard. Objective two, "Students will develop a knowledge base regarding the collections and services of the Texas Tech University Libraries," is meant to respond to all of the performance indicators in Standard two. Objective three, "Students will use information effectively to accomplish research goals and to develop life-long learning," addresses standard four, including all of its performance indicators. Objective four, "Students will demonstrate the ability to critically evaluate and ethically apply information" is meant to respond to all the performance indicators of Standards three and

Similarly, each pre- and post-assessment test question addresses particular ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards, performance indicators, and course learningoutcome objectives. Questions one and five address Standard two, performance indicator 2.2 (course outcome objective 2) (See Tables 2 and 3 for the relationships between the course outcome objectives, the Standards, and test questions, and for the measurements of success in teaching the course content based on what the student answers to the test questions indicate they had learned). Questions two, eight, nine, ten, and eleven are meant to respond to Standard two, performance indicator 2.1 (course outcome objective 2). Questions three and seven address Standard three, performance indicator 3.2 (course outcome objective 4). Questions four and fifteen address Standard two, performance indicator 2.3 (course outcome objective 2). Questions six and thirteen address Standard one, performance indicator 1.2 (course outcome objective 1). Finally, Questions twelve and fourteen address

Standard two, performance indicator 2.5 (course outcome objective 2).

However the discussions are not assessed.

thoroughly.

five.

The information literate student determines the nature and extent of the information needed.

Performance Indicators


#### Standard Two

The information literate student accesses needed information effectively and efficiently.

Performance Indicators


#### Standard Three

The information literate student evaluates information and its sources critically and incorporates selected information into his or her knowledge base and value system.

Performance Indicators


Assessment Methods of Student Learning

assignment quizzes also address the Standards.

objectives.

in Web-Based Distance Courses: A Case Study 197

assignments are conducive to qualitative assessment. Both of these kinds of assessment can be readily matched with educational or learning standards and course learning-outcome

The quizzes and pre- and post-assessment tests in LIBR 1100 belong for the most part to the fixed-choice test category. The grading of these tests is therefore readily accomplished by the Blackboard system the instructors use to teach the course. However, the instructors must review, and occasionally edit, the machine-graded quizzes because of a handful of "fill-in" questions. On the other hand, the pre- and post-assessment tests are completely machine graded. As mentioned earlier, all of the questions in the quizzes and pre- and post-tests are matched to the course learning-outcome objectives, and test what the instructors want their students to learn and know. Since the course's learning-outcome objectives address the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, along with their performance indicators, the questions in the pre- and post-assessment tests and the reading

LIBR 1100's practicums and the annotated bibliography assignment are authentic assessment methods that assess performance. Students complete these assignments successfully by performing several research tasks or operations. Completion of the bibliography represents an accomplishment that the instructors believe reflects a significant part of what is done when one performs library research. Therefore the students acquire several skills as they complete the practicums and the annotated bibliography. These performance assignments are also matched to the course's learning-outcome objectives and

The findings and conclusions of this study relating to the quizzes, practicums, and annotated bibliography are based on grades assigned by the instructor. Though the grades for the quizzes are initially created automatically by Blackboard, the instructor reviews the answers and may revise the grades because of the "fill-in" questions. However the practicums and bibliography are graded without the benefit of any automatic system or the use of grading rubrics. The study's findings and conclusions relating to the machine-graded pre- and post-assessment tests are based on analysis of the input of the five students who took both tests. These students are treated as a single group. The reported frequencies and percentages of correct and incorrect answers pertain to the entire group of participating students. The students' answers on both tests were downloaded from the section's Blackboard site to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The author used formulae available on the

The pre- and post-tests were graded as an incentive for the students to try to do well. By taking the pre-assessment test the students could earn up to 15 points toward their final grade, and by taking the post-assessment test they could earn up to 75 points. Both the preand post-assessment tests contain the same questions. The instructors feel that the fourteen weeks between taking the tests is a sufficient period of time for their students to forget the questions answered in the test at the beginning of the semester. They plan to update the test regularly with new and revised questions and use it every semester. Also, the order of the

Tables 2 and 3 show the relationships of the course outcome objectives, the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, along with their

address some of the ACRL Standards and their performance indicators.

Excel software to tabulate all the data and determine the averages.

questions will be regularly changed.


#### Standard Four

The information literate student, individually or as a member of a group, uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose.

Performance Indicators


#### Standard Five

The information literate student understands many of the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information and accesses and uses information ethically and legally.

Performance Indicators


Table 1. ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education with Their Performance Indicators.
