Contributions of the Project

This project examines student work intended as a culminating piece of research, demonstrating knowledge within their declared major, minimizing critiques that samples were not sufficiently high-stakes, or in an area outside of the student’s area of knowledge, to be adequately representative. Samples came from each broad division of the college, providing a snapshot view across the curriculum.

Norming the rubric provided valuable conversations about specific assessment goals. Programmatic assessment has helped us work more intentionally on assessment for other student learning projects such as data fluency and academic integrity.

This project provided several opportunities to talk with faculty, leading to faculty proactively seeking out librarians to review citation and research practices in student honors papers and spring capstone projects. Librarians used preliminary observations in conversations with faculty about developing assignments and increasing collaboration in mid-level courses.

Our hypothesis that more instruction from librarians improved student work was supported.