Assessment of information literacy skills, some experiences from University of Bergen

Abstract

In many universities in Europe, the teaching of information literacy is the domain of the library, in larger or smaller degree in cooperation with faculty. Information literacy may be included as a small part of ordinary courses, or as a subject that the library has control over. The information literacy skills of the students are therefore not assessed especially. One of the consequences may be a lack of understanding of the importance of information literacy skills among the students, and following lack of participation in the training opportunities. Pedagogical research has found that students place more emphasis and more importance to subjects that are assessed and given feedback. Maybe, to find a way of assessing the information literacy skills will be one of the ways for institutions of higher education to ensure that the students have these important skills? In this paper different ways the students' level of information literacy can be assessed will be explored, with practical examples of different assessments methods. We will also see how the assessment must be depending on and closely connected to the learning goals/learning outcomes. Thirdly, it will be discussed what assessment methods will be most useful and relevant, depending on whether the teacher of information literacy is the subject teacher or the librarian.