july05b.indd


Margy MacMillan 

Open
résumé


Magic words for assessment 

I-SKILLS
 Résumé
 is
 a
 tool
 developed
 to
encourage
 students
 to
 reflect
 on
 and
 as-
sess
 their
 information
 fluency.
 Like
 many

institutions,
Mount
Royal
College
in
Calgary,

Alberta,
 Canada,
 has
 a
 very
 successful
 in-
formation
 fluency
 program—we
 think.
 We

are
 very
 good
 at
 developing
 course-
 and

program-integrated
instruction
sessions,
but

are
struggling
with
the
assessment
piece.
As

our
 instruction
 is
 developed
 for
 particular

courses,
 each
 student’s
 experience
 of
 li-
brary
instruction
is
unique,
a
situation
that

does
not
lend
itself
to
broad,
homogeneous

testing.1


Like
 many
 ideas,
 I-SKILLS
 Résumé
 has

many
 “parents.”
 The
 tool
 has
 come
 about

from
an
unlikely
mix
of
an
ice-breaker
at
a

conference,
 my
 own
 interests
 in
 refl
ection

and
articulation
in
learning,
institutional
pres-
sure
to
prove
we
are
doing
what
we
say
we

are,
and
the
college-wide
outcomes
initiative

for
curriculum
renewal
at
Mount
Royal.
Like

many
tools,
I-SKILLS
Résumé
has
developed
a

life
of
its
own—the
more
we
use
it,
the
more

ways
we
discover
to
use
it.


In
the
two
years
that
I
have
used
I-SKILLS

Résumé,
it
has
proven
to
be
a
useful
resource

that
 gathers
 intriguing
 information.
 I
 have

showcased
it
at
an
on-campus
professional

development
institute2
and
spoken
informally

about
it
at
several
library
conferences.
Hav-
ing
 received
 some
 interest
 and
 approval,

I
 would
 now
 like
 to
 set
 the
 idea
 free
 to

the
 wider
 academic
 library
 community,
 in

the
 hopes
 that
 other
 librarians
 may
 fi
nd
 it

equally
useful.


The genealogy of an idea 
My
quest
for
an
assessment
tool
really
began


when
Mount
Royal
College
adopted
an
out-
comes-based
initiative
for
curriculum
renew-
al
in
1997.3
As
part
of
the
team
developing

the
 “Information
 Retrieval
 and
 Evaluation

Outcome,”
 I
 began
 looking
 at
 ways
 of
 as-
sessing
 information
 fluency.
 Reviewing
 the

literature
 and
 seeing
 various
 models
 avail-
able
on
the
Web
of
how
other
libraries
were

dealing
with
the
issue
was
informative,
but

a
little
dispiriting.
The
majority
of
available

models
involved
multiple-choice
questions,

in
pretests
and
post-tests,
most
of
which
fo-
cused
on
fairly
mechanistic
aspects
of
infor-
mation
 fluency
and
didn’t
seem
to
provide

much
benefit
to
the
student.
The
following

example
is
a
composite
of
the
kinds
of
ques-
tions
I
did
not
think
were
very
helpful,
but

found
all
too
often:


If
 you’re
 looking
 for
 facts
 and
 statistics,

start
by:


a)
checking
the
reference
collection

b)
asking
a
librarian

c)
searching
the
Web


To
which
the
answer,
I
guess,
is
“Yes.”

I
had
other
misgivings
about
this
kind
of


assessment,
particularly
when
used
as
a
pre-
test.
There
was
a
disturbing
undercurrent
in

discussions
with
colleagues
and
in
conference

presentations
that
went
something
like
this:

“If
students
do
poorly
in
a
pretest,
they
will

pay
more
attention
to
me
during
the
class.”

This
 seemed
 to
 run
 directly
 counter
 to
 the

other
 emerging
 trend
 in
 library
 instruction

research:
 the
 importance
 of
 self-effi
cacy.4


Margy
 MacMillan
 is
 instructional
 librarian
 at
 Mount


Royal
 College,
 e -mail:
 MM acM illan@mtroyal.ca



©
2005
Margy
MacMillan


C&RL News July/August 2005  516 

mailto:MMacMillan@mtroyal.ca


If,
 during
 their
 first
 encounter
 with
 library

instruction,
students
do
poorly
on
a
pretest,

that
cannot
enhance
the
students’
confi
dence

in
their
abilities.
The
negative
effect
may
be

compounded
 by
 badly
 designed
 tests
 that

assess
 a
 student’s
 understanding
 of
 library

jargon
rather
than
his
or
her
ability
to
search

for
information.
I
did
find
well-designed
mul-
tiple-choice
tests,
but
that
kind
of
test
did
not

seem
to
provide
the
kind
of
useful,
authentic

assessment
I
was
looking
for.


About
the
same
time,
I
was
working
with

two
 instructors,
 Maureen
 Mitchell
 from
 the

nursing
 department
 and
 Sondra
 Corff
 from

biology,
on
the
problem
of
how
to
promote

reflection
 as
 part
 of
 learning.
 Our
 concern

was
that
in
“high-content”
courses,
students

rarely
had
the
time
or
opportunity
to
refl
ect

on
what
they
knew
except
under
the
extreme

pressure
 of
 an
 exam.
 To
 misquote,
 with

apologies,
 1066 and All That,5
 information

fluency
“.
.
.
is
not
what
you
thought.
 It is 
what you can remember.” 

We
also
discussed
the
importance
of
hav-
ing
students
articulate
what
they
learned
as

a
 way
 of
 encouraging
 reflection
 and
 meta-
cognition.
 Such
 self-awareness
 of
 learning

could
enhance
self-efficacy
and
I
wanted
to

find
some
way
of
encouraging
refl
ection
and

articulation
as
part
of
the
college’s
informa-
tion
fl
uency
programs.


An idea is born 
If
 the
 necessity
 for
 assessing
 college
 out-
comes
 was
 the
 mother
 of
 my
 invention,

the
father
was
certainly
an
ice-breaking
ac-
tivity
 at
 a
 session
 given
 by
 Kathy
 Enger
 at

LOEX-of-the
West
in
2002.
At
the
start
of
her

preconference
 workshop
 “Problem-Based

Learning
 in
 Higher
 Education:
 Active
 Stu-
dent
Engagement
in
the
Learning
Process,”

she
had
us
form
groups
and
write
a
group

résumé,
 with
 the
 usual
 categories,
 such
 as

education,
 experience,
 expertise,
 interests,

etc.


The
 ice-breaker
 was
 successful
 on
 a

number
 of
 levels:
 it
 used
 a
 familiar
 format

that
required
minimal
explanation;
it
started

us
off
on
a
very
positive
note—who
doesn’t


like
to
talk
about
themselves?;
and
best
of
all,

it
gave
me
a
really
interesting
idea!


What
 if
 I
 asked
 students
 to
 develop
 in-
dividual
résumés,
but
focused
only
on
their

information
skills?
In
writing
the
résumé
they

would
be
encouraged
to
reflect
on
and
articu-
late
what
they
could
do;
the
students
would

use
their
own
words
to
describe
their
skills,

removing
 the
 jargon
 problem;
 the
 students,

in
describing
what
they
could
do,
rather
than

struggling
with
questions
they
couldn’t
answer,

would
have
a
more
positive
experience
with

concomitant
 self-effi
cacy
 benefits;
 and
 most

importantly,
 they’d
 have
 a
 document
 they

may
be
able
to
use
in
developing
professional

résumés
and
portfolios.
The
I-SKILLS
Résumé

was
 born!
 Like
 many
 projects,
 the
 acronym

came
first,
and
what
it
stands
for
came
later.
Its

full
title,
seen
only
on
very
formal
occasions,

is
Information Skills and Knowledge Inventory 
for Lifelong Learning Success.


I
realize
that
while
I-SKILLS
Résumé
ful-
fills
several
purposes,
such
as
refl
ection
and

articulation,
I
have
not
discovered
a
panacea

that
conclusively
or
objectively
assesses
either

a
student’s
information
fluency
or
the
effi
cacy

of
our
programs.
In
conducting
an
ongoing

literature
 review,
 I
 am
 less
 convinced
 than

ever
that
such
objective
evaluation
is
possible,

given
that
I
cannot
ever
have
a
real
control

group.
 There
 are
 too
 many
 confounding

factors
 in
 our
 diverse
 student
 body,
 and
 it

would
 be
 ethically
 difficult
 and
 practically

impossible
to
deprive
one
set
of
students
of

all
library
instruction
while
another
set
tak-
ing
the
same
course
received
help.
Similarly,

statistical
 analysis
 of
 what
 students
 identify

as
skills
will
be
interesting
but
inconclusive,

given
that
students
may
not
always
be
accu-
rately
describing
what
they
can
do.


I
have
begun
a
research
project
in
which

students
have
the
opportunity
to
build
their

résumés
 over
 the
 course
 of
 a
 three-year

program.
This
may
satisfy
some
assessment

requirements,
 such
 as
 showing
 students’

perceptions
 of
 the
 growth
 of
 their
 skills.

It
 may
 also
 provide
 some
 insight
 into
 our

instruction,
 as
 the
 students
 I
 am
 studying

participate
 in
 a
 comprehensive
 program
 of


July/August 2005  517 C&RL News 



information
 fluency
 sessions.
 Objective
 as-
sessment
aside,
the
tool
has
already
proven

to
be
easy-to-use,
students
have
commented

on
 how
 writing
 things
 down
 helped
 them

think
about
what
they
knew
how
to
do,
and

the
résumés
have
provided
some
interesting

insights
into
how
students
think
about
their

information
fl
uency.


I-SKILLS Résumé goes to college 
At
 Mount
 Royal,
 I
 have
 used
 I-SKILLS
 Ré-
sumé
 in
 a
 variety
 of
 contexts,
 as
 have
 my

colleagues,
 both
 librarians
 and
 nonlibrar-
ians.
 Most
 formally,
 it
 is
 part
 of
 a
 research

project
designed
to
observe
journalism
stu-
dents’
perceptions
of
their
information
skills

over
time.
I
have
also
used
it
with
advanced

public
relations
students
working
on
group

projects.
 Before
 meeting
 with
 me
 for
 proj-
ect-specific
research
assistance,
each
group

fills
out
a
single
I-SKILLS
Résumé
together.

As
 our
 meetings
 start,
 I
 use
 it
 as
 a
 way
 of

determining
what
instruction
I
need
to
focus

on
with
each
group,
and
can
also
ask
par-
ticular
members
of
the
group
to
demonstrate

skills
they’ve
identified
as
their
strengths
to

the
others.


The research project6 
Before
using
I-SKILLS
Résumé
as
a
tool,
like

any
good
librarian,
I
did
an
extensive
search

of
the
literature.
I
did
not
find
anything
re-
ally
comparable,
which
meant
that
a)
it
had

never
 been
 done,
 b)
 the
 people
 doing
 it

didn’t
have
time
to
write
about
it,
or
c)
it
was

too
simple
to
work.
I’m
inclined
towards
“b”

as
 the
 correct
 answer,
 so
 if
 anyone
 else
 is

using
 a
 focused
 résumé
 tool
 to
 encourage

students
 to
 write
 about
 their
 information

fluency
skills,
please
let
me
know.
I
would

love
to
compare
notes.


In
 order
 to
 motivate
 myself
 to
 actually

try
the
idea
on
live
students,
I
undertook
a

research
 project.
 My
 application
 for
 ethical

approval
states
a
variety
of
reasons
for
doing

the
research,
but
I
am
really
conducting
the

project
 to
 satisfy
 my
 own
 curiosity
 around

two
 main
 questions.
 Is
 the
 tool
 useful
 to

students,
librarians,
and
others?
What
infor-

mation
skills
do
students
have
and
how
do

they
describe
them?


The
research
project
focuses
on
students
in

the
journalism
program
for
a
variety
of
reasons.

First
and
foremost
is
an
extremely
generous

colleague,
Terry
Field,
chair
of
journalism
in

the
Centre
for
Communication
Studies.
Field

is
a
member
of
the
Information
Retrieval
and

Evaluation
Outcome
Team
and
feels
that
stu-
dents
in
his
program
can
benefit
from
I-SKILLS

Résumé,
both
to
assess
their
academic
skills

and
as
part
of
their
professional
preparation.

Journalism
as
a
profession
requires
advanced

research
 skills,
 and
 we
 have
 a
 course-inte-
grated,
incremental
suite
of
instruction
sessions

throughout
the
program.


Another
 advantage
 to
 using
 this
 group

of
students
is
that
most
take
the
same
path

through
the
program,
so
there
will
be
pre-
defined
 points
 at
 which
 to
 complete
 a
 ré-
sumé.
The
résumé
is
currently
an
assignment

in
a
first-year
course,
a
second-year
course,

and
a
final
professional
preparation
course.

Students
 can
 incorporate
 information
 from

their
I-SKILLS
Résumés
into
their
professional

portfolios.


While
 the
 assignments
 are
 required,

participation
in
the
research
project
is
not.

Only
 those
 students
 who
 sign
 a
 consent

form
are
part
of
the
research
project.
I
keep

electronic
copies
of
the
résumés
and
send

them
 back
 to
 students
 for
 updates
 when

the
assignments
are
due.
For
the
research

project,
 I’ll
 be
 doing
 this
 until
 2007,
 at

which
time
I
will
have
two
whole
cohorts

of
students
to
analyze.


Initial
results
of
the
research
project
are

promising.
Students
do
seem
to
understand

the
 format
 easily
 and
 the
 provision
 of
 an

example
 seems
 to
 give
 them
 ideas
 about

what
 they
 might
 list
 as
 information
 skills

without
unduly
leading
or
constraining
them.

The
 résumés
 I
 have
 received
 so
 far
 show

an
 interesting
 range
 of
 skills
 and
 ways
 of

describing
them.
Résumés
from
second-year

students
show
a
growth
in
skills,
and
those

students
have
commented
on
how
updating

their
 résumés
 prompted
 reflection
 on
 their

development
as
information
users.


C&RL News July/August 2005  518 



Sample I-SKILLS Résumé 
(Information
Skills
and
Knowledge
for
Lifelong
Learning
Success)


A
blank
version
of
I-SKILLS
Résumé
is
available
online
at

www2.mtroyal.ab.ca/~mmacmillan/research/iskillblank.doc


Personal:
(Name,
Course,
Semester)
I.
B.
Profen,
Chemistry
3351,
Winter
2003


Special expertise: (What
kinds
of
information
or
topics
are
you
especially
adept
at

fi
nding/evaluating/using?)


•
expert
at
finding
government
chemical
research
information
on
the
Web,
and

•
adept
at
using
databases
to
find
articles
from
scholarly
journals.


Education:
(What
classes,
training,
reading,
self
teaching
etc.
have
you
done
in
the

area
of
information
skills)


•
library
sessions
for
the
following
courses:

-
CHEM
2201—using
databases
and
the
Web

-
CHEM
2203—using
print
sources

-
CHEM
3350—using
environmental
print
and
Web
sources

-
CHEM
3351—using
production
print
and
Web
sources

-
BIOL
2231—using
library
resources,
Web
evaluation

-
ENGL
2201—using
library
resources;


•
in-house
workshop,
“Finding
and
using
data
on
hazardous
chemicals,”
during
summer

employment
at
Dupont;
and


•
subscribe
to
“Researchbuzz,”
an
e-mail
alerting
service
on
information
resources.


Experience: (What
types
of
information
can
you
find
and
what
tools
can
you
use—e.g.,

article
databases,
library
catalogs,
deep
Web
sites,
laws,
addresses,
etc.)


•
experienced
with
online
catalogs
for
MRC,
University
of
Lethbridge,
and
Lethbridge

Public
Library;


•
expert
user
of
ProQuest,
Academic
Search
Premier,
for
locating
articles;

•
familiar
with
using
Interlibrary
Loan
services
to
get
information
from
other
libraries;

•
expert
at
retrieving
MSDS
and
other
hazard
information
from
the
Web;

•
familiar
with
standard
print
tools
for
Chemistry
including
CRC Handbook, Encyclopedia 

of Chemical Technology, Merck
Index;

•
familiar
with
Canadian
Centre
for
Occupational
Health
and
Safety
(CCOHS)
Web
site


and
resources;

•
adept
at
using
search
engines
on
government
sites
to
extract
maximum
information


from
federal
and
provincial
departments;
and

•
can
locate
legal
materials
related
to
chemistry.


Other:
 (Anything
 else
 pertaining
 to
 your
 information-fi
nding/evaluating/usage
 skills

you’d
like
an
employer
to
know,
e.g.,
citing/analysing/bias
checking?)


•
familiar
with
documenting
sources
in
APA
and
MLA
formats,
and

•
adept
at
evaluating
Web
sites
for
authority
and
currency.


July/August 2005  519 C&RL News 



The résumé leaves the nest 
I
would
like
to
formally
launch
I-SKILLS
Ré-
sumé
into
the
academic
library
community.

In
its
current
form
it
is
ready
to
be
adapted

to
 whatever
 use
 readers
 may
 find
 for
 it.
 It

would
 be
 great
 to
 hear
 from
 readers
 who

like
the
idea
of
setting
up
a
site
to
share
the

tool’s
permutations
and
possibilities.


Acknowledgements 
This
 tool
 has
 been
 developed
 and
 refi
ned

with
the
help
of
colleagues
inside
of
the
li-
brary
and
out,
at
the
college
and
elsewhere.

At
Mount
Royal
College,
I
would
like
in
par-
ticular
to
thank
the
Library
Instruction
Team

for
their
patience
with
my
enthusiasm,
the
In-
formation
Retrieval
and
Evaluation
Outcome

Team
and
the
Faculty
Curriculum
Group
for

their
support
of
my
research
project,
and
the

students,
staff,
and
faculty
of
the
Journalism

Department
 of
 the
 Centre
 for
 Communica-
tion
 Studies,
 especially
 Chair
 Terry
 Field.

Thanks
are
also
due
to
Kathy
Enger
for
sup-
plying
the
ice-breaker
that
lead
to
I-SKILLS

Résumé;
to
Helen
Clarke
at
the
University
of

Calgary
 for
 reviewing
 my
 research;
 and
 to

Donald
MacMillan,
also
of
the
University
of

Calgary,
for
his
support
and
ideas.


Notes 
1.
Mount
Royal
College
Library’s
instruc-

tion
program
is
delivered
by
eight
librarians
to

a
student
population
of
11,000.
We
enjoy
tre-
mendous
support
from
nonlibrarian
faculty,

and
our
work
is
integrated
at
the
course
and

program
level.
For
more
information,
please

see
 the
 annual
 report
 at
 library.mtroyal.ca

/services/instruction/.


2.
The
presentation,
which
formed
the
basis

of
this
article,
can
be
found
at
http://www2.

mtroyal.ca/~mmacmillan/conf/tli.htm.


3.
For
more
information
about
the
curricu-
lum
renewal
initiative
at
Mount
Royal
College,

please
visit
www.mtroyal.ca/cr/.


4.
 Elizabeth
 A.
 Linnrebrink
 and
 Paul
 R.

Pintrich,
 “The
 role
 of
 self-effi
cacy
 beliefs

in
 student
 engagement
 and
 learning
 in
 the

classroom,”
Reading & Writing Quarterly,
19,

#2
(April
2003):119–38.


5.
W.
C.
Sellars
and
R.
J.
Yeatman,
1066 
and All That (E.P.
 Dutton
 and
 Company,

1931).


6.
 For
 extensive
 information
 about
 the

research
 project,
 including
 a
 working
 bib-
liography
 and
 ethics
 approval
 form,
 see

www2.mtroyal.ab.ca/~mmacmillan/research.

htm.


IF (Information Fluency) * 

If
you
can
teach
your
class
when
all
about
you


Are
losing
theirs
and
blaming
it
on
you


If
you
can
trust
instructors
not
to
doubt
you


And
still
reach
out
despite
their
doubting
too


If
you
can
plan
and
not
get
tired
by
planning



To
implement
the
perfect
credit
course



Or
teach
class
after
class,
the
hours
spanning



And
yet
not
lose
your
steam,
nor
sound
too


hoarse


If
you
can
dream
that
students
soon
will
master


The
vagaries
of
searching
this
and
that


If
you
can
meet
with
triumph
and
disaster


Of
sessions
that
succeed
or
fall
quite
fl
at


If
you
can
bear
to
see
the
search
you’ve
given


Mangled
by
knaves
so
that
it
finds
no
jewels


And
watch
the
boolean
logic
string
get
riven


And
stoop
to
teach
them
once
again
the
rules


If
you
can
watch
them
mix
their
ands
and
ors
up


Or
put
quotations
‘round
a
single
word


If
you
can
show
them
SGML
markup


Without
being
thought
of
as
a
total
nerd


If
you
can
do
your
stats,
reports
and
budget


While
keeping
up
with
classes
and
research


Resisting
all
temptation
to
just
fudge
it


And
leave
your
dean/director
in
the
lurch


If
you
can
fill
the
one-shot
fi
fty
minute


With
a
good
two
hours
worth
of
info
lit


Yours
is
the
class
and
everything
that’s
in
it


And—for
today
at
least—you’ve
done
your


bit!


*
With
profound
and
profuse
apologies
to
Rud-

yard
Kipling


C&RL News July/August 2005  520 

www.mtroyal.ca/cr
http://www2
http:library.mtroyal.ca