This year, as part of the First Year Student Orientations to the CVHS Library, students took an Information and Media Literacy Skills Assessment. Over the next few weeks, the data will be analyzed, an assessment report will be prepared, and key findings will be reported at an all staff meeting.
Students were asked questions about Recognizing a Need for Information, Access, Use, Evaluation and Affective Perspectives on Reading and Independent Learning.
Here is a sneak peak at some of the preliminary findings and how the library uses evidence to support future academic program decisions. More analysis of all of the questions will help librarians, teachers and administrators to develop curriculum that includes information skills.
Question 2 (Information Literacy Assessment)
Ability to take logical next steps with Artificial Intelligence responses
Understanding what the logical next step is after receiving a response from a generative artificial intelligence service is a critical thinking skill that all students need to learn in order to use AI effectively in their research. First year students were given a scenario: write a paper about the top three impacts of climate change on local wildlife in your town. With the response from an AI service, students were asked to identify logical next steps to using the information for academic purposes.
Summary Outcome:
While first year students generally recognize that they need to gather more information after receiving a response from a generative artificial intelligence service, they tend to use only those topics mentioned by the AI for further investigation. Students will likely need additional support in recognizing gaps in the AI output (topics that are missing) to be further researched.
Students need help understanding how AI outputs represent a source of information (or aggregation of sources) that should be acknowledged and cited.
Note: This assessment did not address the students' ability to take the next step (find other sources of information or ask more refined questions.) The emphasis was on the first critical thinking step: recognition of a need for more information in multiple directions.
Findings:
==> 73% of first year students tested (N=169/231) successfully recognized a need to gather more information about the four types of local wildlife impacted by climate change in Castro Valley identified in the initial AI response.
==> 50% of first year students tested (N=116/231) recognized a need to seek information about the four types of wildlife identified plus other types of wildlife not identified by the AI response (e.g. insects).
==> Only 27-37% of first year students tested recognized the need to either paraphrase or acknowledge the use of generative AI in their papers (N=62 and 70/231, respectively)
Question 3: Exit Ticket. Digital Library Orientation, Navigator Level 3
Access to the Alameda County Public Library, digital resources
Obtaining a public library card is a very basic first step for high school students to begin to develop life skills, including reading skills. Having all students on the Digital Public Library also makes it possible for teachers to rely upon and use quality subscription databases for classroom teaching in all subjects.
Our goal this year was to try to get access to the public library for 100% of Castro Valley High School First Year Students (N=766.) A subset of the First Year Students participated in the Digital Library orientations through their English Classes (N=131).
Summary outcome:
1. Approximately 10% of First Year Students (N=80) new have access to the Digital Public Library after orientations through their English classes prepared by the Teacher Librarian, setting them on a path to lifelong skill development and enriched classroom experiences for the next 4 years. Greater participation by English classes or other formats such as mandatory orientations before the school year for all entering First Year Students or a formal partnership with the Alameda County Public Library would likely improve student access.
2. A majority of students successfully access quality digital information resources (N=80 or 61%) when introduced to them by an English teacher with curriculum developed by the Teacher Librarian.
Findings:
==> 80 of 131 First Year Students now have an Alameda County Public Library card or eCard after the Digital Library Orientation through their English classes.
==> 19 of 131 First Year Students still need help and want to get an Alameda County Public Library eCard.
