Starting at UNC and continuing at SMU, I developed and offered a consultation service that used my background in education and instructional design to evaluate and redesign research assignments for faculty interested in implementing Information Literacy in their course instruction.
For each assignment consultation, I would:
- Approach the assignment as a student — completing it as an undergraduate would
- Approach it as a librarian — assessing the information-literacy demands and search strategies it required
- Offer feedback on potential areas of concern
- Redesign collaboratively with the faculty member
- Debrief after delivery to assess the educational efficacy of the new design
Impact
By the time I had left UNC, I had consulted on over 100 assignments, and nearly 60% of the First Year Writing course were using a “Test Driven Assignment.”
At SMU, this service allowed me the opportunity to serve on the First Year Writing and Critical Reasoning Task Force as we redesigned the research and writing components of the new Common Curriculum. This means every research assignment used in the First Year Writing classes at SMU is developed from a library “Test Driven” template.