2009-04

Instruction committee minutes - April 15, 2009 - 441 Statler Hall
Attendance: Eric Acree, Camille Andrews, Ken Bolton (recorder), Pat Court, Thomas Mills, Lynn Thitchener. Guest: Zsuzsa Koltay.

Student Learning Assessment
Zsuzsa Koltay talked about the assessment group she is serving on - the Student Learning Assessment working group of the university's reaccreditation review. They are looking to complete their report by May, 2010. They have had one meeting so far. The new guidelines include learning outcomes as part of the accreditation process. Different colleges and units were asked for information about what they are doing in the area of learning outcomes, and it seems that there is a pretty wide range. A group from Middle States Commission on Higher Education is coming to meet with the group soon.

The instruction committee talked about various learning outcome activities that are taking place in the library instruction program. Tony talked about the various assessment activities that Olin library is using in their instruction. LibGuides have the capacity for assessment built-in. The hands-on time at the end of workshops is used as an assessment measure. Lynn mentioned WASSAIL as a possible tool for measuring assessment. Camille talked about the information competency rubric that David Way promotes. The information competency initiative can be a showcase for the library's efforts in learning outcomes. The assessment committee is looking for systems that integrate learning outcomes broadly in the university curriculum. Zsuzsa's committee will report back to the university on the current situation concerning learning outcomes.

Zsuzsa and the Instruction committee will keep in touch throughout the process. There might be a need for more emphasis on learning outcomes measurements as part of our information literacy efforts.

e-Services Fair
We need to finalize a location and funding for door prizes. Camille suggested we have the fair in conjunction with a digital literacy project that Tracy Mitrano is working on. Camille briefed the committee on the recent digital literacy contest that was just held in Mann Library. A new digital literacy contest is planned for the fall so it might be a good opportunity for the e-Services Fair to combine efforts with the new contest. Camille is working with Tracy to develop a digital literacy tutorial. We decided that it would be a good idea to promote the digital literacy contest during the fair but not hold it in conjunction. Mann Atrium and Libe Café are two possible locations. Lynn will take the lead on coordinating this year's fair.

Needs Assessment
Camille sent out the needs assessment documentation. We will look at these areas more closely in a future meeting.

LIPP Professional Development panel
The panel has been rescheduled to 9:00 on Tuesday, May 19. David Way will be in attendance. Tony will moderate the panel and each contributor will take turns and share their experiences. Hopefully, the discussion will help to promote the program and generate ways to improve the program for the future.

Bibliography/Wiki
We talked about blogs and listservs that could be added to the bibliography. Lynn has been working on organization of the bibliography. Every member of the committee is encouraged to look at the bibliography and add content. https://confluence.cornell.edu/display/instruct/

Library Guides
The library guides page on the new CUL web site has been reorganized. Eric is concerned about the usability of the LibGuides. This concern was shared by other members of the committee.

Meeting adjourned at 4:06.