Evaluating One-shot Asynchronous, Online Primary Source Instruction: a Case Study Using Student Feedback

This poster explores how librarians can evaluate students’ perceptions of their ability to apply skills about how to evaluate and use primary sources taught via an online tutorial for a large-scale (250+ students each quarter) writing program course that does not provide access to student work products. We reviewed data from a writing program course taught in two quarters with a combined enrollment of 574 students. Students completed an online tutorial where they learned skills required to analyze primary sources and an evaluation to determine their perception of the effectiveness of the tutorial format to teach these skills. Our data show students preferred the online tutorial format and 75% feel very confident or confident about their ability to analyze a primary source after completing the tutorial. This is significant because only 50% were able to demonstrate their abilities in completing the tutorial activities. While we are pleased students have confidence to proceed with analyzing a primary source on their own, we don’t want them to overestimate their abilities. The analysis of student responses to questions where they applied their learning revealed key areas in which we can focus on improving our instruction. We plan to work with faculty and our librarian colleagues to make revisions to the tutorial content to close this gap. This project revealed the value of having an evaluation of student perception of their ability to complete tasks in addition to an assessment of student work. It provides additional information to librarians about content areas where students are feeling more or less confident compared to their demonstrated abilities.