Panel I: First Year Programs

New Students and Library Advisors - Stephanie Willen Brown and Bonnie Vigeland, Hampshire College Library

This past fall, Hampshire College Library implemented a unique program to teach entering students how to use information resources. Each new student was paired with a "library advisor" with whom they met individually early in the semester. This session was designed to help students become acquainted with a reference librarian, the library's Web site, and the basics of library research.

Moving From Teacher-Centered to Student-Centered Active Learning in the Library: Visualize This! - Esme DeVault, Wheelock College Library

Over the past three years at the Wheelock College Library, there has been a conscious movement away from teacher-centered models of information literacy instruction toward student-centered active learning models. This has most especially been the case with the first year students, for whom a formal information literacy program has been developed. This presentation will deal with the evolution of models that have been employed and the problems and joys encountered along the way.

Panel II: Assessment

Performance-Based Learning and Assessment The Wave of the Future - Carol Gordon, Boston University Educational Resources Library

This presentation will focus on how librarians can work with faculty to translate information literacy standards into context-relevant skills needed to accomplish authentic learning tasks. It will demonstrate how assessment drives instruction and distinguish between formative and summative assessment. The design of authentic learning tasks and appropriate assessment tools, such as rubrics, journals and portfolios, will be covered. Action research methods will also be included to show how instrutors and librarians can gather data to inform and improve teaching.

Faculty Voices Library Instruction Assessment Faculty Survey - Patricia Mardeusz, Trina Magi, and Laurie Kutner, University of Vermont Bailey/Howe Library

In addition to feedback from students, a systematic assessment and evaluation of the library instruction program from the faculty perspective has also been deemed a necessary and important part of a full evaluation of our library instruction program. A survey of faculty was conducted in fall 2000 to ascertain satisfaction levels in five areas. We will present background information specific to our institution, methodology and design of the survey instrument, survey results, conclusions and recommended actions. We will also reflect upon what we have learned from the survey results and how we are using this important information to improve our library instruction program.

Active Learning and Thinking

- Anna Litten, Emerson College Library and Patricia Durisin, Simmons College Libraries

We will lead program participants through a process of brainstorming to come up with real activities that could be incorporated into your library/information literacy program. The goals are to create tools to apply at your library based on today's presentations and to start with some ideas to build on in creating an online library on the NELIG Web page.