1) The authors developed an assessment program for library instruction sessions at the Sloane Art Library involving students, faculty, TAs, and fellow instructors to evaluate progress towards the goal of focusing students on deeper research questions. 2) A rubric and student worksheets were used to provide formative and summative assessments. Peer coaching was also used to assess instructor teaching. 3) Lessons learned included the need for more time, clearer rubric criteria, and guidance on using reference sources early in the research process rather than just articles. Student demographics and gaps in understanding were also identified.

1. Cycles of Learning: Innovation Through Assessment
Heather Gendron & Madeline Veitch ⋅ Sloane Art Library, UNC Chapel Hill
Special thanks to our collaborators and fellow instructors Kristin Goode, David Parisi, and Eva Sclippa.
Motivation
innovate, v.
1.trans. To change (a thing) into something new; to
alter; to renew.
2.To bring in (something new) the first time; to
introduce as new.
Each semester at the Sloane Art Library, research
instruction sessions are provided to students taking
Art History survey courses. Historically, these fifty
minute sessions have included instruction on
searching the library catalog, finding journal articles,
and evaluating print, journal, and web sources.
Culminating with a worksheet or exercise, the
sessions have been part lecture, part interactive
activity – a packed hour that often left us wondering
precisely what students were able to take away and
apply to their own research.
A driving goal in our instruction has been to focus
students on the process of inquiry and discovery.
We have aimed to redirect students towards tackling
“wicked problems” or deeper research questions,
instead of focusing on questions that can be easily
answered.
How could we assess our/their progress towards this
goal? We sought to innovate our approach to
instruction by identifying learning outcomes and
developing measurable criteria for assessment. We
involved students, faculty, graduate assistants, and
fellow instructors in an assessment program that has
ultimately reshaped our approach to teaching.
Methods
A Team-Based Approach
Rubric
Creating a rubric helped us define the goals of
our instruction sessions . It also served as a tool to
grade the worksheets and give students direct feedback.
We found that a teambased approach was necessary in order to develop an
assessment cycle at this scale. Working as a team, we
developed a teaching outline, worksheet, and rubric. We
met in person and online (utilizing online collaborative
tools like Google Docs) to share ideas.
Summative assessment takes place after instruction,
allowing both students and instructors to gauge student
learning at a particular point in the process.
Reflective Peer Coaching We used this approach in order
to assess and improve our own teaching. Each instructor
partnered with another instructor for the three-part
process, which is outlined in:
Vidmar, Dale J. Reflective Peer Coaching: Crafting
collaborative self-assessment in teaching. Research
Strategies, 20(2006), 135-148.
Improvements
With several different instructors teaching and
grading worksheets, we could improve consistency
by clarifying what constitutes "needs improvement,"
"good," or "optimal" work. Perhaps a group training
session in which everyone could practice with sample
worksheets would be helpful.
By looking at the "grading" breakdown, we identified
rubric goals that were too advanced for the phase of
research students were engaged in at the time of
library instruction (e.g. “effectively triangulates
between multiple concepts within a topic” is a
benchmark that would be more appropriate near the
end of the research process than at the beginning).
Formative and Summative Assessment
Formative assessment takes place during instruction,
allowing for adjustments to be made on the spot. Insights
from formative assessments also influence changes made
post-instruction.
Lessons Learned
Interactive Sticky-Note Software
This tool allowed us to model the research process and
gauge student learning on the spot. It helped us to get
maximum class participation quickly and from students
we wouldn’t have heard from otherwise. Students used
the tool after viewing an artwork and reading and
excerpt from Oxford Art Online excerpt, to develop
good questions and share them with the rest of the
class.
Not all students were able to finish the worksheet in
the time allotted. We realized that we needed to
provide an N/A or “timed out” option on the rubric
for students who ran out of time and did not cover all
points.
There's never enough time! This is a perennial lesson
in library instruction. Establishing the goals of the
course helped us guess better how much time would
be needed. That said, instructors continued to go
over their time allotted for presentation.
Discoveries
Peer coaching increased confidence in instructors’
ability to teach effectively.
The History of Western Art students were evenly
distributed by year, with First Year students
comprising a slightly larger portion of the group at
31%.
In contrast, the Introduction to South Asian Art course
was predominantly made up of Juniors and Seniors.
Together these two groups comprised 80% of the
students, while First Years and Sophomores
represented 10% each.
When students are expected to turn in worksheets,
they are more invested in the process.
Power Point Annotation Tools
We asked students to respond to an excerpt from Oxford
Art Online, working as a class to identify biographical,
cultural and historical contexts, materials and methods,
influences, style/period/movement(s), and critical
response to the work that might inform keyword
searching.
Student demographics
Visual Thinking Strategies We started by interacting with
an image of a work of art using the VTS method.
Evaluating individual student performance with a
rubric and narrative feedback helped us identify gaps
in understanding. We discovered:
Worksheet
The worksheet served as a way for students to log their
research process during a half-hour breakout session. It
included: generating relevant keywords and research
questions, locating a book, locating an article, and
evaluating one of the resources they found. This was
turned in for assessment using the rubric.
TA Survey
We conducted a post-class survey of TA’s who were
responsible for teaching the recitation sections of the
courses.
•Students were not using reference sources or books
to their full potential; most began their search by
looking for journal articles (usually too granular for
starting out).
•Those who did use reference sources did not always
distinguish them from scholarly sources that would be
appropriate to evaluate for their annotated
bibliographies.
•Many students had lingering questions about source
evaluation, particularly with regard to web sources.