Transcript Student Learning Outcomes Why do we care? And how to create them.

Student Learning Outcomes
Why do we care?
And how to create them
Why are SLOs important
• Outcomes Assessment is the process of
collecting information that will tell a school
organization whether the services it offers are
having the desired impact on students.
• Is the school actually teaching students?
Grades are cumulative
• Outcomes address specific skills
Grades vs. Outcomes
• Instructors’ grading criteria often include
behaviors or activities that are not measures
of learning, such as attendance, participation,
improvement, or effort.
• For example, although 30% of a class may
receive a grade of B, the group may all have
shown a very high level of competence on one
skill set but only moderate achievement in
another.
Outcomes are a component of grades
Finally…
• Arguably most importantly, systematic
Student Learning Outcomes Assessment is
now a requirement for accreditation by all
higher education accrediting organizations.
What are SLOs
• Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) describe
what a student is expected to learn as a result
of participating in academic activities or
experiences at the College.
• Focus on knowledge gained, skills and abilities
acquired and demonstrated, and attitudes or
values changed.
Outcomes Assessment has three stages:
• 1. Defining the most important goals for
students to achieve as a result of participating
in an academic experience (outcomes)
• 2. Evaluating how well students are actually
achieving those goals (assessment)
• 3. Using the results to improve the academic
experience (closing the loop)
How to write a SLO
How to Get Started:
1. Ask yourself: what are the most important
things a student should know, be able to
do, or demonstrate after completing my
course, or program?
2. How will students be able to demonstrate
what they learned?
i.e. What Assessment will you use?
– Test
– Demonstration
– Quiz
– Project
– Etc.
Example
SLO: As a result of students participating in English 101, students will be able to
compose a thesis that demonstrates understanding of a literary genre in a
specific historical period.
3. How does this SLO fit within the
program/institution SLOs?
• Remember you will be mapping (connecting)
your Course SLOs to your Program SLOs
You only need a few
• Focus on a small number of learning outcomes
that are most relevant to your services.
• Three to five may be plenty!
(However, individual department requirements
may vary.)
Be Specific
• Make outcomes as specific, focused and clear
as possible – general outcomes will be hard to
measure!
Try using this template for writing
learning outcomes:
• As a result of students participating in ________,
students will be able to (action verb)+ (defined by
explicit and observable terms)_____.
Example:
• As a result of students participating in English
101, students will be able to compose a thesis
that demonstrates understanding of a literary
genre in a specific historical period.
• SLOs use action verbs from Bloom’s Taxonomy
with an emphasis on higher-order thinking
skills.
• SLOs must be:
– Observable
– Measurable
– Able to be demonstrated
• SLOs should be written in language that
students (and those outside the field) are able
to understand.
• Avoid starting SLOs with the words such as
“understand”, “learn”, “know”, etc. since these
indicate internal mental processes for the
students.
• If you get stuck on the word “understand,” ask
yourself what students will use their
understanding to do: “Use their
understanding of ______ to (do what)?” Then
drop the “use their understanding."
• When writing SLOs, think about how you will
assess each one. This keeps our intended
outcomes grounded in reality.
SLOs should use active verbs
• Sample action verbs are:
Analyze, apply, argue, arrange, assemble, assess,
calculate, categorize, choose, classify, compare, compile,
compute, create, criticize, critique, defend, define,
demonstrate, describe, design, develop, differentiate,
discuss, distinguish, estimate, examine, explain,
formulate, identify, illustrate, indicate, interpret, label,
list, locate, manage, memorize, order, operate, organize,
plan, practice, predict, prepare, propose, question, rate,
recognize, repeat, report, reproduce, review, revise,
schedule, select, solve, state, translate, use, utilize, write
How to evaluate a SLO
• Shortcomings can typically be seen by asking
two simple questions:
1. “CAN IT BE MEASURED?”
2. “IS LEARNING BEING DEMONSTRATED?”
Student Learning Outcomes checklist:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Does the outcome support the program objectives?
Does the outcome describe what the program intends for
students to know (cognitive), think (affective, attitudinal), or do
(behavioral, performance)?
Is the outcome important/worthwhile?
Is the outcome:
a. Detailed and specific?
b. Measurable/identifiable?
c. A result of learning?
5.
6.
Do you have or can you create an activity to measure that
students learned the desired outcome?
Can the outcome be used to make decisions on how to improve
the program?