Each year, the UMD Libraries reports to the UMD Provost's Commission on Learning Outcomes Assessment. The focus of this report is on the assessment process, with an emphasis on collaboration, reflection, and evidence-based change. In 2017, the UMD Libraries adopted a new six year assessment cycle that engages all units in assessment of learning outcomes aligned with the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.
Learning outcomes should build on one another, with institutional outcomes informing unit and course-level outcomes. Each of these learning outcomes should work in concert with one another, building towards the same set of goals. Learning outcomes at the institutional level are broad, becoming more specific as we work our way down to the lesson-level.
At the UMD Libraries, the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education is the basis of our learning outcomes assessment. Starting with library-level learning outcomes, each unit and individual librarian developed unit- and course-level learning outcomes that build upon and support the institutional outcomes. At each step of this process, we strived to align learning outcomes with the threshold concepts outlined in the Framework.
