Information Literacy 

Librarians have developed a master IL Rubric that allows instructors to assess IL competencies on a four-point scale ranging from beginning, developing, competent to accomplished.  In addition to the rubric, a list of performance indicators associated with each of the five major IL competencies can be used for ideas on how to incorporate the IL competencies into WI assignments.

Courses designated as WI should have an assignment or assignments that cover a minimum of three out of the five broadly defined IL competencies.  Competencies IV and V are required to be covered, in addition to one of the other three competencies.

The IL requirements need not be covered in one assignment; in fact, it is often beneficial to both instructor and student to break the research process down into steps.

A traditional research paper addresses all of the broadly defined IL competencies.  However, this is not the only means of assessing IL. Some assignments may address only one or several of the IL competencies.  For instance, a bibliography covers competencies II and III; an annotated bibliography covers II, III, and IV.

A two-part assignment from the Fall 2008 HI 101 IW course can be used to demonstrate how the IL Rubric can be used to assess competencies.  In Part 1 of the assignment (the Web Site Evaluation Checklist, see attached document below) the question "Does this website have an apparent bias? If yes, what?" (repeated 4 times, for each Web site required) can be assessed under the "Evaluation of Sources" criterion in the rubric, with some slight revisions tailored to the assignment. 

In this example, an answer on the "Beginner" level would demonstrate little or no recognition of the bias (or lack thereof) in the Web site.  A "Developing" answer may demonstrate the recognition of bias but difficulty in articulating just what the bias is.  A "Competent" answer would recognize the existence and the nature of the bias, and an "Accomplished" answer would demonstrate a recognition and explanation of the bias that is highly nuanced.

In the essay portion (Part 2) of the HI 101 assignment, students have to compare their personal opinions (stated in a previous essay) with the opinion of others as found in the aforementioned Web sites.  In this case, the students' essays can be evaluated under the "Uses information effectively in their writing assignments" criterion in the rubric.

An essay on the "Beginner" level would use little or no information from the outside sources.  A "Developing" essay would attempt to incorporate information from outside sources, and perhaps be off-topic at times.  A "Competent" essay would use information from outside sources to support the topic and demonstrate some synthesis with their own ideas.  An "Accomplished" essay would contain highly refined and articulated use of information from outside sources, as well as synthesis of this information with their own ideas.