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Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Evaluation article

I encountered an article that describes an initiative in a more refreshingly honest way than some I've read. A teacher and librarian at McMaster University together identified evaluation frameworks for different types of information on the "Credibility" "Content" "Currency" model. They got the students on their undergraduate health course to take tests of their ability to apply the evaluative frameworks. The authors observe "We can only infer that this test, like many others, did not generate great enthusiasm. In retrospect, it was perhaps not a good idea to have imposed the artificiality of an assessment on this exercise. We should have stressed the significance of obtaining this skill and left it up to the students to practice it on their own and take it seriously or lightly as they chose to."
Later on they admit that they intended to follow up the cohort, but here a note of sadness enters since "midway through the term, the position of the education resources specialist was made redundant, so we could not follow through in upper-level courses" They also thank the "delightful and enthusiastic students at the University of Calgary who took MDSC 203", a nice touch which you don't often see.
Rangachari, P. and Rangachari, U (2007) "Information literacy in an inquiry course for first-year science undergraduates: a simplified 3C approach."Advances in Physiology Education, 31, 176-179. http://advan.physiology.org/cgi/content/abstract/31/2/176
Photo by Sheila Webber: First strawberry, just before plucking, June 2007 (here it was as a flower(I think).

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