Technology can assist in meeting instructional goals but can conversely create counterproductive distractions and fail to improve learning outcomes if not used effectively.¹⁹ Disconnections and frustration can result if students are distracted by the technology, if instructors’ expectations regarding students’ previous knowledge and technical skills are off-base, or if students fail to understand the relevance of such technologies to the subject matter and particular learning experience. A primary reason educators are challenged to integrate various technologies is because of a common assumption that technology can just be “added on” to existing pedagogy and vice versa.²⁰ Sound pedagogical practices and teaching methods should never be compromised to incorporate technology into the classroom.

When determining how to encourage the development of the key twenty-first century competencies, all aspects of teaching and student learning should incorporate the components of active learning, critical thinking, and reflection. The instructional design process creates a framework to apply sound pedagogy and to develop quality curricula, activities, and learning experiences.²¹ Selection of technologies can then be made in the context of appropriate pedagogical principles and strategies. That pedagogy includes the development of well-defined learning outcomes, relevant learning exercises, multiple levels of reinforcement, and assessment methods to determine the level of learning.²² Student performance and learning are at their highest when the setting advances individual learning and accommodates diverse learning styles; establishes a supportive environment where students can readily seek help; provides opportunity to explore new information and build a knowledgebase; communicates individual usefulness and relevance; and creates a sustaining framework of concepts, processes, and strategies.²³ Once these elements become the focus and foundation of the student learning experience other aspects like learning outcomes can be developed.

Solid learning outcomes and competencies help guide the process of inclusion of these key elements. Well-written outcomes play a role in multiple aspects of building curriculum such as the establishment of the focus of what will be taught, the student learning experience, and a foundation for assessment. There are numerous guides and texts on how to write effective learning outcomes, but all rely on these foundational aspects: (1) goals and outcomes represent the broad picture of the instruction and (2) goals and outcomes focus on active and constructive processes, social interaction, collaborative learning, and problem solving. An effective way to develop robust and relevant outcomes is to create each in three parts:

• an action verb phrase [this describes what the learner will be doing]
• the connection phrase “in order to”
• an accomplishment/achievement phrase [this describes why the learner is engaged in the action].²⁴

The benefit of this formula is that it can be used for outcomes at the program, course, assignment, and activity levels. An example of an assignment outcome using this formula could be: Students will reflect on their interpretation of election political rhetoric in the form of a podcast or videocast to demonstrate their critical analysis and interpretation skills of contemporary commentary. Among the many steps in which program coordinators, department heads, and teaching librarians can engage to determine how to integrate twenty-first century learning into pedagogy, curricula, activities, and experiences, the key is to establish a process that addresses this type of outcome-based learning at all levels of the planning and student learning cycles.

Some educators, despite increased institutional support, have a negative view of learning assessment tools and feel many are used just for the sake of assessing technology integration. Using inappropriate assessments can have a negative influence on the learning environment and ultimately may not provide rich, useful data. In the best circumstances, assessment has a positive influence on students’ effort to learn content, demonstrate knowledge, and engage with their peers.²⁵ Assessment is valuable when it is: “redeemable, transparent, incremental, valid, authentic, demanding, reliable, timely, fair, efficient & manageable, equitable, and formative.” Additionally, it should “motivate students to learn, promote deep learning, start as early as possible in a course or module, and enable the demonstration of the excellence.”²⁶ Assessment is often categorized into three types: assessment for learning, assessment as learning, and assessment of learning; on occasion researchers and educators merge assessment as learning with assessment for learning. Assessment for learning is used to help instructors analyze the effectiveness of the various teaching and learning activities used. It helps them examine in what ways students are gaining specific knowledge and how they are applying this knowledge within the classroom. Assessment as learning puts the student in the center of the process to promote his or her metacognitive development. This type of assessment is often done by helping and guiding students through critical reflection and analysis of how and what they learn. Assessment of learning, often referred to as summative, focuses on determining what students have learned and how they demonstrate this knowledge. This also helps the instructor evaluate how students compare to each other.²⁷ It is important to remember that a combination of assessment types will ensure the most effective way to evaluate how and what students are learning.

Thoughtfully considering how assessment can enhance the student learning experience, in addition to helping gather quality data, is a core component of its use within the classroom. It is important to use learning outcomes as the foundation for the development of the assessments. Implementing a variety of ways to assess what and how students are learning provides a more robust analysis. Applying established methods for gauging the validity of the assessments ensures the gathering of quality data. Additionally, assessment is an ongoing process that should be adjusted as instructional content and teaching processes change.²⁸ Authentic assessment methods are an effective way to integrate assessment for learning and assessment as learning into a curriculum or course. This method targets the illustration of knowledge and skills in addition to application in a variety of scenarios. The characteristics of this method include six components. Quality authentic assessments: (1) have more then one correct approach; (2) are thought-provoking, not simply requiring recall of memorized facts; (3) require decision making, rather then just rote memorization; (4) develop thinking in a variety of ways; (5) lead to other problems to be solved; and (6) raise other questions.²⁹ Examples would include problem-based learning, case studies, guided activities, or reflective journals. Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs), such as One Minute Papers, Think/Pair/Share, or Polling, are another effective method for integration of assessment into a course.³⁰ For librarians teaching one-shot guest lectures CATs can prove to be a particularly effective way to assess student learning.

Having valid assessments is essential in determining whether or not students are learning what the established learning outcomes state they will learn. Data gathered from an invalid assessment, at the very least is wasted effort on the part of the instructor and students and, at the worst, may negatively affect students’ final grades or take a course, program, or curriculum in a misguided direction. Some key steps to consider when validating an assessment are:

• clearly identify in what ways the assessment matches the content and competencies established by the learning outcomes;
• identify alternate scenarios that could influence how students demonstrate the behavior or complete the assessment, which might include taking into consideration student motivation, relevance to what is being learned, or equal access to specific tools; and
• establish what the assessment is supposed to do and what the data are expected to indicate. Then test it to ensure this is consistently the case.³¹

Developing and using valid assessment for library instruction and programming is particularly important because access to learners is often limited or short-lived. With increased pressure to show positive impact and value for efforts in the classroom, ability to provide a holistic picture of teaching efforts and student learning could be disrupted if data gathered is not valid.

Flexible technologies can enable the creation of multi-faceted learning environments that accommodate diverse learning preferences and cognitive processes. It is important to be mindful of the implications of technology use in the classroom on the ability of students to learn and process new knowledge. The abundance of learning style theories and models is recognition that individual preferences can affect how a student may function within a learning environment. While it is not prudent to state that learning styles alone should be the driver in how technologies are integrated, it is a component that needs to be considered. The basis for most learning style models is visual, auditory, and kinesthetic, with many being more intricate in how learning styles are defined and identified.³² A recent study in Science reported that students using technology in the classroom learn and retain content twice as effectively as students who learned the content in lecture format alone.³³ Additionally, digital interactive tutorials often incorporate text, audio, visual, and hands-on components, making them ideal for accommodating diverse learning preferences.³⁴ Considering the cognitive process and learning styles preferences is significant because they affect how digital learning objects are designed, what technology should be used, and ways new information is presented to the learners. Regardless of the specific learning style theory or model, it is important to remember that how people learn is a driving factor in successful use and integration of any technology both in the classroom and personal life.

Even if students are immersed in technology outside the classroom, most do not expect the classroom environment to mirror their personal array of technology and many preferring moderate use of technology in their learning environments.³⁵ Instructors, therefore, must not assume the increased use of technology is necessarily better. For integrating technology, it is important to consider the function of a tool instead of merely the tool itself. For instance, instead of focusing on how to click through the interface of a specific database or search engine, concentrating on teaching the higher concepts of searching as a transferable function creates a more authentic experience. Using observation to monitor comprehension and provide point-of-need clarification is an excellent assessment for learning techniques. Another example is to teach students about effective communication techniques and methods and then use a social networking tool such as Twitter to apply or analyze use of (or lack of use) the concepts being taught.³⁶ Both of these examples align use of the tool to the concepts and theories being taught within the context of a course.

There is an increased discussion about what the modern or contemporary classroom should include to enhance the learning experience and to promote twenty-first century competencies. Many see the design of the space as a way to promote specific learning environments. For instance to promote individualized, focused learning, group work, and interactive projects, the learning space needs to include computer workstations, group discussion areas, and larger worktables or workbenches.³⁷ In a time when space is at a premium, a good design would create areas that are multifunctional and flexible. It is important to note that just because a learning space has high-end equipment and tools, it should not be assumed that students are actually acquiring twenty-first century competencies.³⁸ The structure and design of the programming and curriculum guide learning much more then the space or tools alone.

How the learning environment is designed to enhance information fluency can be based on several different learning theories such as constructivism, connectivism, situated learning, or full immersion. All of these theories are based on the concept of learning by doing and experiencing, which resonates with today’s learners who want to interact and connect with their professors, classmates, and learning environment.³⁹ While distance and online learning initiatives are expanding within traditional higher education institutions and are the preferred method of for-profit universities, they are only a small percentage of the overall number of learning environments, even though this is the environment where various technologies are expected to be utilized. Most faculty still teach in traditional classrooms. Even though this may still be the case, this does not preclude or prevent the use of technologies. Several faculty teach hybrid or blended learning courses that incorporate elements of both traditional and online learning. These environments are often “defined as the appropriate mix and use of face-to-face instructional methods and various learning technologies to support planned learning and foster subsequent learning outcomes.”⁴⁰ A key component of having a successful hybrid learning environment is to consider what technologies are available within the institution as well as freely available on the web and then to identify how their core purpose or functionality matches the learning outcomes, integrates into activities or projects, and complements the type of assessments to be conducted. Being well aware of support structures such as a community of practice, campus IT workshops, webinars, and the like can aid in a smoother integration and implementation.