Data from: Improving learner-driven teaching practices through reflective assessment

Objective: Reflective assessment is an effective method of teacher
evaluation, serving as an approach for, assessing teaching practices,
generating insights, and connecting with colleagues, ultimately supporting
meaningful transformation of teaching practice. In this paper, three
librarians model a reflective assessment approach in evaluating and
improving their experiences implementing learner-driven teaching practices
in credit-bearing courses in topics related to library and information
studies. Methods: Following a model of reflective assessment, we ask
ourselves how our practice can better support learner-driven teaching
practices, thus assessing and improving our own teaching and improving
students’ learning experiences. Our process involved five steps: cohere
around shared viewpoints; identify teaching practices for reflection;
conduct reflection; discuss and analyze reflections to produce insights;
apply insights to improve teaching. Results: We reflect on five different
learner-driven teaching practices: co-creative syllabus design,
learner-defined personal learning goals, soliciting and responding to
learner feedback, interdisciplinary discussions and exercises,
self-evaluation. We discuss improvements and refinements that we
implemented in response to our reflective assessment, including: more
frequent checking in with students; more clarity regarding self-evaluation
and grading; one-on-one meetings with all students; allowing students to
negotiations, discuss, and determine assignment deadlines and dates; more
flexibility with students’ work products; and increased pedagogical
transparency. As a further result, our reflective process models an
approachable framework for engaging in reflective assessment. Conclusions:
This paper presents a model for reflective assessment of teaching in an
academic library. We present a discussion of learner-driven teaching
practices, and we offer a practical pathway for other teachers and
practitioners to assess their teaching. We find that reflective assessment
is an effective and insightful approach for understanding and improving
learner-driven teaching practices.