Writing Good Learning Outcomes - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Writing Good Learning Outcomes

Catherine Wehlburg, Ph.D.

Office for Assessment & Quality Enhancement

Student learning outcomes (SLOs) are statements that specify what students will know,

be able to do or

be able to demonstrate when they have completed or participated in a program/activity/course/project. Outcomes are usually expressed as knowledge, skills, attitudes or values.

What are Student Learning Outcomes?

SLOs Should Focus on:

What

you want your students to know at the end of a course, program, or

major

What you want your students

to

understand at the end of a course, program, or

major

What

you want your students to have the ability to do at the end of a course, program, or major

Why are Student Learning Outcomes Important?

Communicate expectations to

learners

Act as a template for course

design

Guide selection/design of appropriate

assessments

Why are Student Learning Outcomes Important?

Allow

educators to match teaching strategies to stated outcomes

Allow faculty, staff, and Institutional researchers to assess the impact of instruction

Clearly communicate graduates’ skills to prospective employers

Provide benchmarks for formative, summative and prior learning assessment

How Many Student Learning Outcomes Should There Be?

A course, program, or major should have as many outcomes as necessary to clearly reflect what students will learn

.

Ideally, each course, program, or major should have 1-5 learning outcomes.

Components of a Student Learning Outcome

Student Learning Behavior-Knowledge, skill, or attitude to be gained

The Method

of

Assessment-

conditions of performance

Criteria for achievement- the levels of acceptable performance

From Peter Drucker, 1954

8

Are Your SLOs

S.M.A.R.T.?

S

pecific

-Clear and definite terms describing the abilities, knowledge, values, attitudes, and performance

M

easurable

-It is feasible to get data: data are accurate and reliable; it can be assessed in more than one way

A

ggressive

and

A

ttainable

-The outcome has the potential to move the program or unit forward

R

esults – oriented

-Describe what standards are expected from students or the functional area being assessed

T

ime-bound

-Describe a specified time period for accomplishing the outcome

7 Steps for Creating Student Learning Outcomes

Step 1

Faculty/Staff Meeting or form a committee and begin

brainstorming about what an ideal student/graduate should

know, understand, or have the ability to do.

Step 2

Draft a list of outcomes

based on the discussion from the “ideal student/graduate” discussion

Step 3

List

appropriate student

learning outcomes on every course syllabus

7 Steps for Creating Student Learning Outcomes

(cont’d)

Step 4

Gather and report feedback from faculty, staff,

and students

on how well the outcomes have been addressed.

Step 5

Assess student learning (assignments, projects,

quizzes, etc.)

7 Steps for Creating Student Learning Outcomes

(cont’d)

Step 6

Meet with faculty and staff at the end of the semester

of academic

year to discuss data and revise the list

of outcomes

, teaching strategies, and curriculum.

Step 7

Repeat steps as often as needed.

The Assessment Process

(

Huba & Freed, 2000)

Formulate statements of intended learning outcomes

Develop or select assessment measures

Create experiences leading to outcomes

Discuss and use assessment results to improve learning

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Benjamin Bloom - formulated a classification of "the goals of the educational process".

Three "domains" of educational activities were identified.

Cognitive Domain

, involves knowledge and the development of intellectual attitudes and skills.

The other domains are the Affective Domain and the Psychomotor Domain

Bloom’s

Taxonomy

Taxonomy of Cognitive Objectives

Developed by

Benjamin

Bloom in the 1950’s

Means of expressing qualitatively different kinds of thinking

Adapted for classroom use as a planning tool

Continues to be one of the most universally applied models

Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy

Provides

a way to

organize

thinking skills into six levels, from the most basic to the higher order levels of

thinking

1990s-

Lorin

Anderson (former student of Bloom) revisited the

taxonomy

As a result, a number of changes were

made

(

Pohl, 2000,

Learning to Think, Thinking to Learn, pp. 7-8

)

Original Terms

New

Terms

Evaluation

Synthesis

Analysis

Application

Comprehension

Knowledge

Creating

Evaluating

Analyzing

Applying

Understanding

Remembering

(Pohl

, 2000,

Learning to Think, Thinking to Learn, p. 8

)

BLOOM’S REVISED TAXONOMY

Creating -

Generating

new ideas, products, or ways of viewing

things

Evaluating -

Justifying

a decision or course of action

Analysing -

Breaking

information into parts to explore understandings and relationships

Applying -

Using

information in another familiar situation

Understanding -

Explaining

ideas or concepts

Remembering -

Recalling

information

The student will be able to (specific student behavior)

______________________________________________________ as measured by (conditions of performance – could include time frame)

______________________________________________________

at the ______________________________________ level (performance criteria).

Template for Writing SLOs

Questions?