Authentic Assessment of Student Learning in an Online Class: Implications for Embedded Practice

According to the 2017 Distance Education Enrollment Report, the number of students enrolled in online courses has been increasing year after year, with over 6 million students taking at least one online course in 2015. 1 The students who are enrolled in online classes, however, aren’t always prepared for the work expected of them. One survey conducted in 2016 found that nearly 60% of faculty who engage in online teaching strongly agree that their undergraduate students have poor research skills, especially related to finding and evaluating scholarly information. 2 In response, teaching faculty have become more reliant on librarians as experts to help students master these skills. 3 Embedded librarianship, defined as having professional librarians interact with students directly through the learning management system (LMS), has been employed as one strategy for meeting the needs of these online students.