Have We Realized the Full Potential of the Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes?

Abstract

This poster will illustrate the current stage of an ongoing qualitative study of the assessment of student learning outcomes in master’s-level programs in Library and Information Science (LIS) in a sample of eighteen representative American Library Association (ALA)-Accredited MLIS programs in the U.S. Given that the proposed study aims to construct models for assessing learning outcomes in LIS programs based on identified best practices, this analysis of current literature was conducted to identify and understand the issues associated with current practices in learning outcome assessment across other disciplines and professional programs such as nursing and engineering. The analysis identifies the challenging issues, including what learning is being assessed and how to assess it, managing data collected, engaging stakeholders, both students and administrators, and transforming findings into practice to improve programs. This analysis will be followed by interviews conducted with selected faculty to identify best practices. The interview data will be analyzed and coded according to emerging categories for ease of interpretation. Subsequently, the results of the survey and interviews will be utilized to construct models for assessing student learning based on best practices.