Executive Summary of Results

Data from student surveys and ‘scoring’ of student projects (papers and presentations) on information and technology use showed the utilization of the University Library’s resources, facilities, and services—particularly the Information Commons--to achieve learning outcomes.  There was a significant positive correlation between undergraduate students’ use of the Information Commons space and services and their demonstrated competency in information use and technology use as seen in classroom projects.  Both undergraduate and graduate students used the newly-designed technological workspaces for group and individual projects and 40% of undergraduates used librarian information services. 

Need for the Project

Research on effective pedagogy needs to consider not only in-classroom experiences but incorporate a holistic assessment of the student’s entire learning environment.  Within universities there is a growing awareness of the value of out-of-classroom resources, facilities, and services for student learning.  OnCourse is one manifestation of a ‘virtual environment’ designed to enhance learning, and the ePortfolio of a ‘virtual environment’ in which to facilitate learning assessment and teaching improvement. 
         Appropriate physical environments have a role, as well.  The University Library at IUPUI has consistently been at the forefront of both virtual and physical support for learning activities, with cutting-edge wired and wireless installations, heavy promotion of electronic information, and design and implementation of innovative searching (metasearch) and content (digital library, institutional repository) resources. 
         The UL staff recently conducted a needs assessment which revealed a growing need for student group work spaces.  Many programs and courses, such as in Business, Informatics, and Social Work, involve their students in complex group assignments.  At Indianapolis, the Library is an essential partner in making these assignments feasible learning experiences, as the student population is almost entirely commuter rather than residential, and there are limited technologically-equipped group work areas on campus. 

Use of Technology

There were two learning environments examined in this study:  the University Library’s Information Commons, and OnCourse, in its group work modules and the electronic portfolio portfolio function. 
         The University Library’s Information Commons was designed to provide effective group-oriented, technologically capable study facilities, information resources, and computer and reference assistance.  This expanded the learning environment outside of the classroom, and enhanced social interaction.  An average of 33% of time that students spent on their projects was spent at the library. 
         The OnCourse module helped librarians and faculty members coordinate their efforts—always challenging on a big campus with busy people—in this collaborative evaluation effort. 

Instructional Design Plan

A presentation to Library faculty in January 2007 highlighted for them the demonstrated benefits of the Information Commons for student learning outcomes.  This will feature in their in-class presentations to students on making the best use of the library.  Two librarians will involve classes in Spring 2007 in further research building upon this pilot examination. 

Potential to Impact Student Learning

It is vital for students to have effective resources to help their learning experiences.  When professors determine that group projects are an effective learning mechanism, then environments must be available where that can happen.  When professors ask students to go beyond textbooks into independent information-gathering, it is important to provide the information tools and professional advice that makes that successful.

Assessment Plan

This project itself was designed as a trial of student project scoring as a measurement tool.  It used survey data matched with expert scoring of student projects.  Classroom and library faculty scored projects with four-point scales for information and technology use.  The results show a remarkable consistency, speaking to the usefulness of simple expert judgments.  In exactly half of all cases all judges scored the projects the same; in only 17% of cases were the scores more than 1 point apart. 

Plan for Colleague Development

This project was an extremely useful first step for librarians and classroom faculty to explore environment effects on student learning outcomes, and functioned very well as a component of a project to explore the comparative value of a variety of library assessment tools.  Its particular approach represents the aspirational gold standard for academic librarians:  to see an effect of their resources, facilities, and services.  . 

Final Comments on Project Results

I am grateful to have had the support and endorsement of this grant.  I am not sure I needed all of the money—the librarian collaborators were eager to donate their time!  Some problems were that two of the faculty collaborators had difficulty scheduling their time and ended up not contributing.  Some students had difficulty filling out the surveys in a mathematically accurate way.  The electronic portfolio is not designed to support anonymous reviewing, although such reviewing could be a very useful part of program review and other overview assessments. 

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Last updated: 18 May, 2007

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