The Library's Information Literacy Program student learning outcomes fall into seven broad categories: Develop a Research Plan, Find Resources, Analyze Search Results, Retrieve Sources, Evaluate Sources, Organize and Use the Retrieved Sources, and Understand the Ethics of Information Use.
In the course of a 50-minute or 75-minute Library instruction session, we can expect to cover no more than three IL learning outcomes. In identifying the learning outcomes for your class's library session(s), consider:
Where in the research process are your students?
Task Initiation | Topic Selection | Prefocus Exploration | Focus Formulation | Information Collection| Search Closure| Starting Writing
Library instruction is most effective when students are beginning their research projects (Task Initiation and Topic Selection stages) and are seeking relevant information or when they are seeking pertinent information (Information Collection stage). Individualized help, available through research consultations, reference appointments, and WRSA coaching is ideally suited for helping students during the other stages of the research process.
What research or information literacy activities are you asking your students to do?
What are the requirements of your assignment and how familiar with the research elements of the assignment are your students? By conducting a casual prior knowledge assessment of your students research experiences, you will get a sense of which essential-to-your-assignment skills and abilities your students already have.
Where have students encountered challenges before?
Thinking about past student work on this assignment, what were some of the most common sticking points? Where topics too general or unfocused? Did students rely on certain types of sources to the exclusion of others?
Once you have prioritized the research skills and information literacy concepts you would like students exposed to, you can work with your librarian to identify what topics can be covered in an instruction session (or series of sessions) and what topics can be introduced by way of tutorials and handouts, or research appointment and consultation.