Introduction
As a librarian for the Graphic Design undergraduate courses at Chelsea, I am not directly involved in creating learning outcomes and assessment criteria for students within their course. UAL Library Services have information literacy learning outcomes mapped to the UAL Creative Attribute Framework (Appendix 1). While useful for planning teaching sessions, they do not provide a consistent way to assess learning and measure teaching impact on students.
Evaluation
Currently, assessment of learning in library sessions is informal and based on student engagement, participation, and anecdotal feedback. Workshops and teaching sessions are designed to align with information literacy learning outcomes, but there is no standardized framework to measure student progress effectively (Appendix 2). The most helpful occasions for exchanging feedback and assessing information literacy learning occur during one-to-one tutorials, where I can observe students’ research and information literacy skills in action through discussion of their work and ideas. However, these interactions are limited to a cross-section of students and do not provide a comprehensive measure of learning impact across the entire course. A broader assessment approach is needed.
Moving Forwards
To create a more consistent and measurable approach to assessing learning in library sessions, several strategies can be explored for both individual and broader assessment approaches:
- Surveys: Providing structured surveys before and after teaching sessions can help to assess students’ prior knowledge and measure their learning progress. This can provide an insight into the effectiveness of teaching instantly. End of unit surveys could also be an effective way of assessing learning outcomes that might not be apparent straight after a teaching session. For example, providing a research skills session using library resources to support essay writing; the efficacy of this session is not apparent until the students have started using these skills to research their project. A survey after their unit deadline could highlight the impact of these sessions across the course.
- Formative Assessment Activities: Using reflective exercises and group tasks during workshops can offer immediate feedback on student understanding and engagement. In particular, group tasks can allow students to co-teach their peers, thereby solidifying their understanding of information literacy principles.
- Student Self-Reflection: The Graphic Design students keep an assessed process journal throughout their time on the course as a self-reflective tool to document their practice. I plan to propose a self-reflective form or questionnaire that focuses on information literacy and research skills that can be integrated into their process journal; this would enable the students to assess their understanding of information literacy skills by embedding it directly into their course work.
- Collaboration with Unit Leaders: I will continue to work closely with the Graphic Design tutors and lecturers to align library teaching with course-specific assessment criteria to enhance the integration of information literacy skills within students’ academic work (Zanin-Yost, A., 2014, p.154)
One-to-one tutorials remain an invaluable opportunity to assess learning on an individual level, but they need to be supplemented with broader strategies to capture impact across the course. Refining these approaches and collaborating more closely with faculty will help create a more structured framework for assessing learning, ultimately enhancing the impact of library teaching on student development.
Appendices
Appendix 1.
The Creative Attributes Framework illustrates creative aims alongside a library (information literacy) skill that could help achieve that goal. It is a useful tool for planning and identifying activities that could be used to achieve these learning outcomes, but does not provide much guidance on assessing the learning of these skills.
Appendix 2.
References
Zanin-Yost, A. (2018) ‘Academic collaborations: Linking the role of the liaison/embedded librarian to teaching and learning’, College & Undergraduate Libraries, 25(2), pp. 150–163. Available at: DOI: 10.1080/10691316.2018.1455548. [Accessed: 12th March 2025]