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Information Literacy Plan: Assessment and Performance

Information Literacy at UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law

Measuring our Performance

Assessment

Assessment is an essential component of UNH Law’s Information Literacy Plan. In order to demonstrate that students who receive information literacy instruction finish with the knowledge needed to be highly capable, confident legal professionals and lifelong learners, this plan provides mechanisms for measuring outcomes of instructional components at every level.

Level 1 Assessment Mechanisms

Graded Required Research Courses such as Legal Research & Information Literacy

•    Faculty or TA evaluated in-class worksheets, research practicums and graded research assignments
•    Student self-assessed research narrative as part of final graded research assignment
•    Selective use of Socrative, a smart student response system that empowers professors to engage their classrooms through a series of educational exercises and games via smartphones, laptops, and tablets.
•    UNH Law course evaluations

Built-in Research Assignments in Graded Non-Research Courses

•    Faculty evaluated research assignments
•    UNH Law course evaluations

Research Presentations by Teaching Librarians in non-Research Courses

•    Librarian designed and administered brief survey for student evaluation of presentation effectiveness
•    Faculty evaluation of research for research based writing assignments

 Optional Research Training

•    Librarian designed and administered brief survey for student evaluation of presentation effectiveness

Level 2 Assessment Mechanisms

Graded Research Courses such as Advanced Legal Research and Mining Patent Data

•    Faculty evaluated research assignments
•    UNH Law course evaluations

Built-in Research Assignments in Graded Non-Research Courses

•    Faculty evaluated research assignments
•    UNH Law course evaluations

Research Presentations by Teaching Librarians in non-Research Courses

•    Librarian designed and administered brief survey for student evaluation of presentation effectiveness
•    Faculty evaluation of research for research based writing assignments
•    Library Director will evaluate web-based research guides prepared for presentations

Optional Research Training and Summer Research Survival

•    Librarian designed and administered brief survey for student evaluation of presentation effectiveness

Level 3 Assessment Mechanisms

Graded Required Research Course/ Graduate Legal Research & Writing

•    Faculty evaluated research assignments
•    Student self-assessed research narrative as part of final graded research assignment
•    UNH Law course evaluations

Graded Research Courses

•    Faculty evaluated research assignments
•    UNH Law course evaluations

Built-in Research Assignments in Graded Non-Research Courses

•    Faculty evaluated research assignments
•    UNH Law course evaluations

Research Presentations by Teaching Librarians in non-Research Courses

•    Librarian designed and administered brief survey for student evaluation of presentation effectiveness
•    Faculty evaluation of research for research based writing assignments

Optional Research Training and Summer Research Survival

•    Librarian designed and administered brief survey for student evaluation of presentation effectiveness

Overall Program Performance

•    The teaching librarians will incorporate a section on research skills into the library’s student survey conducted every three years and will simultaneously hold student focus groups for feedback on research skills.
•    The teaching librarians will track LSSSE results for student feedback on research training
•    At the end of each summer, students working in legal jobs will be given a survey relating to the adequacy of their research skills. The same survey will be administered to students completing externships. This survey will be developed by the teaching librarians and administered in conjunction with the Career Services Office and/or the Externship Director.
•    Library Faculty will explore possible use of standardized assessment tools and rubrics.
•    Starting from the year of its approval by the Faculty, the UNH Law Information Literacy Plan will be reviewed every three years by an ad hoc committee appointed by the Dean to determine if the plan is working and make needed revisions to ensure its ongoing success.

Publication

The University of New Hampshire School of Law Information Literacy Plan will be published on the law school’s website.

Approved by UNH Law Faculty – September 30, 2013