Since 2012, the Research Education Program has undertaken a mixed-media assessment project aimed at evaluating student learning and interpreting student and faculty perceptions of the connections between research and learning.
We assess student learning through two related direct or authentic measures, the First-Year Information Literacy Survey and the Capstone Assessment Project. We administer surveys to all incoming First-Year students upon their arrival at Trinity College and then again upon their completion of an information-literacy instruction session with a research librarian. The survey assesses students basic abilities to differentiate among different types of information sources, formulate effective research strategies, and use information in an ethical manner. For the Capstone Assessment, research librarians annually read and evaluate a random sample of senior theses from a selection of academic departments, and then rate them according to an information-literacy rubric that we developed locally. As of 2016, the capstone rubric and information-literacy survey correlate to the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education approved by the Association of College and Research Libraries in 2000. In 2017, we will revise our tools and processes for assessing student learning using learning goals derived from the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.