Tuesday, November 4, 2014

ILI Blog - Week 10 - Evaluation and Evidence

Questions
What methods are used to evaluate teaching and learning? Why is evidence-based librarianship important? Describe an "aha" moment you had this week, if any.

Answers
Evaluation methods for teaching and learning range from observation and question-asking to surveys and feedback forms, from informal to formal, and along the timeline of happening before, during, after, and long-after the instruction interaction itself. Reflection is a big part of teachers evaluating their plans and praxis, considering how well they were implemented and how effective they were in meeting instructional goals, and how they could be improved to better support learners. Assessment is how teachers evaluate learning, from anticipating the needs and knowledge of learners, observing how they are doing during the interaction, and measuring how well they were able to meet the targets of the learning, right away and much later on, with the goal of adjusting and improving instruction.

Evidence-based librarianship is important because otherwise you are just going off gut-feelings and vague understandings and unchallenged biases that, if you had evidence, you might be surprised to find are kind of close or way off. Common sense isn't necessarily reasonable or realistic. If you are using evidence in your librarianship, you can quantify and track information over time to see what things are going well or going wrong, share this information with others to get feedback or to make suggestions, and use the information to support your claims and requests and advocacy. You can either have an idea or feeling about librarianship, or you can know about it more concretely and definitively. You are also better able to compare elements of your librarianship to best practices and other librarians and organizations, and better evaluate possible new methods or products armed with information about your patrons' or organization's needs and wants.

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