Library Presentations, Posters, and Audiovisual Materials
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
2014
Abstract
What can standardized assessments tell us about the information literacy levels of our students? When an institution chooses to use a national assessment, the institution is faced with negotiating the existing testing process and making sense of the results within the local context. Chapman University and its sister institution Brandman University have measured information literacy for several years with the Standardized Assessment of Information Literacy Skills (SAILS). In this presentation we compare three models of implementation: (1) administering the SAILS cohort test to incoming freshmen; (2) giving the SAILS individual-scores test to freshmen and seniors; and (3) administering the SAILS cohort test to students enrolled in a required information literacy course. We share a snapshot of our results and, more importantly, how we have interpreted these results. We review the benefits and limitations of the SAILS tests, discuss solutions to implementation issues, and offer ideas for communicating results to stakeholders.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Recommended Citation
Radcliff, Carolyn J.; Ross, Kevin; and Knight, Annie, "Standardized Assessment of Information Literacy Skills: What the SAILS Tests Reveal Over Time" (2014). Library Presentations, Posters, and Audiovisual Materials. 7.
https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/library_presentations/7
Comments
The presentation was given at a conference organized by an accrediting agency and attended by university administrators, faculty, librarians, and others interested in how assessment informs student learning and organizational effectiveness.