FIQWS WRITING AND INFORMATION LITERACY ASSESSMENT



FALL 2010 FIQWS WRITING AND INFORMATION LITERACY ASSESSMENT

January 2011

Assessment of Writing Skills and Information Literacy Skills in FIQWS was conducted January 13th-January 28th, 2011 by veteran FIQWS composition instructors: Adam Bubrow, Casey Gordon, MacAdam Smith, Nicole Treska, and Amy Veach. The project was coordinated by Ana Vasovic, Coordinator for General Education.

Forty final research papers from twenty different FIQWS sections were assessed (instructors were asked to submit two random papers each) using the General Education Writing and an Information Literacy rubrics so as to understand where progress has been made and where struggles still exist in regards to the FIQWS program.

Findings and recommendations

Overall, students’ papers are satisfactory and have improved in clarity and structure from the previous assessment conducted in Fall 09. Summary of findings and areas that can be improved are described below:

WRITING

1. Thesis:

An emerging thesis appears in nearly every essay, which is an improvement over last year’s findings. Students still struggle with articulating the thesis clearly and creating a thesis statement that merits complex analysis. Thesis statements rarely articulate opposing viewpoints, because few students develop true, dual-sided, debatable topics.

2. Structure and Organization:

Introductions and conclusions are in place and competent, though not always compelling. Every essay has a clear beginning, middle, and end. Organization of information throughout the body of the essay is weaker. Transitions are most often missing or ineffective.

3. Evidence and Development:

All students utilized sources related to their topics. Students struggle to really assess their sources and recognize the bias of the sources. Few students give counter-arguments. It seems as though students don’t have enough time to familiarize themselves with the topic and the political landscape about which they are writing.

4. Mechanics and Style:

Most students are approaching competency in this category. While ESL issues account for some errors, papers show evidence of difficulty in areas of agreement, diction, and syntax. In addition to grammar concerns, students at times show difficulty in articulating complex ideas.

INFORMATION LITERACY

1. Demonstrates a clear understanding of information needs and is able to search efficiently:

Students show a good variety of sources, some of them from scholarly journals. Still an over-reliance on Internet sources with no authors specified. Students struggle with interpreting these sources. Sources are rarely challenged, and often information is inserted without evaluation.

2. Effectively evaluates information sources:

Students seem comfortable finding sources, and most use at least one scholarly source. The majority of sources, however, are Internet sources. The credibility of sources is left unchallenged.

3. Articulates credibility of sources:

The students show very few mentions at all of sources’ credibility, probably because few experts are used as primary sources. Students mention nothing more than the name of the author, and often the information is introduced without the use of any signal phrase.

4. Uses information ethically:

Students seem very conscious of plagiarism and the idea of citations, footnotes, and bibliographies. Where students struggle is in using the precise format of the given citation style. Lapses in citation or citation style may be attributed to students’ lack of skill in documentation rather than ethical issues.

The suggested actions for further improvement are as follows:

-Teachers should introduce strong student essays as examples. Along with sharing the Writing and Information Literacy Rubrics with students, teachers should produce examples of Beginning(1), Developing(2), Competent(3), and Accomplished(4) essays. Those examples may be provided by the teacher, though it was also suggested that examples be made available directly through the FIQWS program. Perhaps CUNY has sample papers already in place.

-Content instructors should provide students with clusters of materials to be used as possible sources for the final papers. While it is important that students learn how to develop their own, original research question for the final paper, students seemed to have trouble locating valuable, applicable sources. By asking content instructors to provide clusters of materials grouped under examples of research paper topics, students could be more focused in their research, thus learning how to thoroughly analyze and use a source rather than using a source simply for the sake of fulfilling the requirement of the assignment.

-Supplemental support for ESL and grammar instruction should be utilized. Instructors should partner with the Writing Center more actively in trying to reach out to students struggling with ESL issues (TOEFL certified tutors are available). The idea of separate ESL FIQWS courses was discussed but ultimately seen as an unfit solution to the problem, as it would segregate ESL students from the larger student body. Grammar courseware is available for use at the College.

-Students should be encouraged to use all of the resources offered by the library. While students seem to be somewhat capable of performing research in the online databases, little evidence was shown that the students utilized other areas of the library. Students should be encouraged to look at print sources; students should also feel comfortable approaching the reference desk for assistance.

-Writing instructors should focus on the value of sources and expertise of the authors of these sources. One of the most sweeping areas of concern was with the students’ use of sources. While the content instructor should take lead in guiding students to quality sources, the writing instructor should refocus his/her energy on helping students thoroughly analyze sources.

-The plagiarism policy should be clarified for faculty. Many faculty are uninformed or misinformed about the University’s plagiarism policy and therefore fail to report plagiarism all together. A FIQWS Faculty handbook will be developed and will include policies and procedures involving plagiarism.

-Both assessment rubrics should be modified. The Writing Rubric: Suggested amendments to the language included adding terms such as “development” and “transition” to the “Structure and Organization” section. It was the feeling of the assessment team that the sections of each rubric should be divided into more succinct, observable parts.

-A checklist for students should be composed and posted, along with the rubrics, online for easy student access. The checklist is currently being composed and is intended for use as a friendlier version of the rubrics.

In conclusion, it is important to note that the common sentiment was that the papers have improved in clarity and structure from the previous assessment. The average rubric scores are shown below and, in comparison with Fall 09 data, they do show an improvement in students’ writing and information literacy skills.

Note: Scale 1-4 reflects the ability range from the beginning level to the accomplished level – it is meant as a “college span” scale; it is expected that the majority of freshmen would not be at the “accomplished” end of the scale.

1 - beginning

2- developing

3 - competent

4 – accomplished

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