Assessment with Rubrics: An Efficient and Objective Means of Assessing Student Outcomes in an Information Resources Class

Abstract

This article describes the use of a conventional grading rubric as an objective tool for assessing educational outcomes in a for-credit Information Resources class. The tool was evaluated in the context of the assessment process at the University of Mississippi. To assure objectivity, two librarians independent of the librarian-instructor scored student reflection papers using a 5-point scale. Rubric items were considered successful if 75 percent of the students received an average score of three or higher. The results showed that weak areas of comprehension are those that require higher level thinking, such as the ability to distinguish between the popular and academic press. The librarian-instructor will place more emphasis on these topics in future classes and reword rubric items of questionable design.

Information Literacy and Communication Research: A Case Study on Interdisciplinary Assessment

“…Based on the research literature on use of rubrics in evaluation of information literacy (Choinski, Mark, & Murphey, 2003;Knight, 2006;Oakleaf, 2009), students' worksheets were scored as follows: Needs Improvement (0), Acceptable (1), or Excellent (2). Using this rubric, the librarian scored the worksheets and provided additional feedback for the students.…”

Information literacy assessment

“…The only article in this section that directly tries to map an assessment onto information literacy competencies standards was by Choinski et al (2003). This article shows the initial development of a marking rubric mapped onto the ACRL information literacy competency standards (Association of College and Research Libraries, 2000) which was used specifically for assessing an Information Resources class.…”

Impacting Information Literacy Learning in First-Year Seminars: A Rubric-Based Evaluation

“…Elizabeth Choinski, Amy Mark, and Missy Murphey effectively used a rubric in a for-credit Information Resources class. 11 The authors chose rubric assessment because it provided valid, objective results without a large outlay of time and effort from a small pool of librarians.…”