Assessing Learning, Critical Reflection, and Quality Educational Outcomes: The Critical Incident Questionnaire

D. L. Gilstrap, J. Dupree
2008 College and Research Libraries  
This research study incorporates Brookfield's Critical Incident Questionnaire (CIQ) as a qualitative instrument to assess the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education in one library's instructional curriculum. A sample (n=348) of English Composition II students was studied over the course of two semesters during a four-session instructional program. A methodological framework of critical reflection, incidents, and events was incorporated, as well as reflection on
more » ... ice. Results of the study showed the CIQ was effective in supporting qualitative methods for assessment of critical reflection in generaland the ACRL Standards specifically during the research and learning process. n 1989, the American Library Association first mainstreamed the importance of critical thought in information literacy.' This focus on thinking critically was later developed further by the implementation of the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education in 2000.2 As a result, critical thinking skills have become increasingly important in library and information literacy programs over the past 15 years. Recognizing the importance and complexity of this pedagogical construct, committee members of the ACRL did not define the term critical thinking as a static and prerequisite "thing" that exists in classroom settings waiting to be discovered. Rather, thinking and discerning critically incorporates a process of experience and analysis toward which we guide our students as they become information-literate consumers as well as producers of information. Encompassing the related concepts of critical reflection and critical incidents, the goal of this research study was to facilitate and assess the process of critical thinking in a library instruction program, as well as to reflect on our own practice of teaching information literacy. In 2002, the Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU) Libraries restructured its entire library instruction curriculum to integrate specifically the 407 Donald Gilstrap is Associate Dean
doi:10.5860/0690407 fatcat:wnu3xbgwqfg5dam3ekg6hfgdui