Student Learning Outcomes General Education Area Review Committees October 15, 2010.

Student Learning Outcomes

General Education Area Review Committees

October 15, 2010

“A University should be a place

of light, of liberty,

and of learning.”

Benjamin Disraeli

GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS COLLEGE gustavus.edu

Outline

•Student Learning at Gustavus

(What matters most?)

•Student Learning Outcomes

(What do we want our students to learn?)

•Evidence and Assessment of Student Learning

(How do we know if our students have learned?)

•Accreditation and Student Learning Outcomes


“Among the public’s many expectations of higher

education, the most basic is that students will learn,…”

“Effective assessment is best understood as a strategy for

understanding, confirming, and improving student

learning.”

From “Student Learning, Assessment, and Accreditation,”

The Higher Learning Commission


“I approach teaching exactly the way I approach scientific

research. I have clear goals. I have clear measurements. I

figure out what the past research says and what the

guiding principles are. I guide what I do by that, and I

measure if it works. And if it doesn’t work, I try something

different until it does.”

Nobel laureate Carl Wieman, physicist and science

educator


What matters MOST to you about student learning at

Gustavus?


The Big Picture: Who Contributes to Student Learning?

Learning

Faculty

Tutors

Lab Assistants

Resource Staff

Coaches

Music Directors

Chaplains

Advisors

Residential LifeStaff

Support staff

Peers

Student Activities Staff


STUDENT LEARNINGOUTCOMES


At the completion of this session, participants will:

•Define “student learning outcome”.

•Recognize student learning outcome statements.

•Translate knowledge, skills, abilities, and dispositions into

student learning outcomes.

•Distinguish between student learning goal and student

learning outcome.

•Formulate student learning outcomes for their general

education area.

•Justify the role of student learning outcomes throughout

the institution.


“Learning outcomes are statements describing our

intentions about what students should know,

understand, and be able to do with their

knowledge when they have graduated.”

Huba, M. E. & Freed, J. E. (2000). Learner-centered assessment

on college campuses: Shifting the focus from teaching to

learning. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.



Making connections throughout the institution



Of what value are clearly articulated Student Learning Outcomes?

•Provide direction for our instruction

•Inform students about our intentions and expectations

•Focus on lasting results

•Form a basis for our assessment


What is the difference between a learning goal and a learning outcome?

Goal: “broad and long-term descriptions of

learning expectations”

Learning Outcome: “specific descriptions of

expectations that…learners can demonstrate when

they complete a course, program, or

baccalaureate degree”

Driscoll, A., & Wood, S. (2007) Developing Outcomes-Based

Assessment for Learner-centered Education. Sterling, VA:

Stylus.



Goals and Outcomes

Goal

Outcome Outcome Outcome Outcome



Goals and Outcomes

GOALS

• Broad

• General

• Abstract

• Not easily

validated


OUTCOMES

• Narrow

• Precise

• Concrete

• Can be validated


Example: Dental Health 101

GOAL:

Understands proper

dental hygiene


OUTCOMES

Outcome 1: Identify the

active ingredient in

toothpaste

Outcome 2: Explain why

teeth should be cleaned

twice a year

Outcome 3: Describe how poor

dental hygiene can lead to

poor overall health



Students will ( or will be able to):

<<action verb>>

<<learning object>>

by <<criterion>>.


Hatfield, S. “Going Rogue: What No One is Telling You About Assessment,” The Higher Learning Commission Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL. April 2010.


Student Learning Outcomes: Examples

Journalism:

Write a news story in the proper inverted pyramid format.

Machine Technology:

Demonstrate basic shop safety and safe attitudes in all

class activities.

Graphic Arts:

Create visual sketches of a variety of fundamental

graphic imaging techniques.



•Learner-centered

•Specific

•Action oriented

•Cognitively appropriate for the program level

•Measurable




Levels of the Cognitive Domain

Evaluation

Synthesis

Analysis

Application

Comprehension

Knowledge


Levels of Cognitive Domain•R

emember or recall information

Level 1: Knowledge

•Understanding information

Level 2: Comprehension

•Use ideas, concepts, and actions to solve problems

Level 3: Application

•Use critical thinking

Level 4: Analysis

•Put together the parts to form something new

Level 5: Synthesis

•Make judgments based on evidence or defined criteria

Level 6: Evaluation


Assessment for Learner-centered Education. Sterling, VA: Stylus.


Verbs associated with each level of the cognitive domain:

•ask, define, draw, fill in, identify, label, list, listen, match, memorize, name, observe, recall, record, recite, repeat, select

Level 1: Knowledge

•defend, describe, discuss, distinguish, document, explain, estimate, express, generalize, identify, locate, paraphrase, recognize, report, restate, review, tell

Level 2: Comprehension

•change, classify, compute, construct, dramatize, draw, demonstrate, employ, illustrate, interpret, manipulate, operate, sequence, show, solve, test, translate, use, write

Level 3: Application

•appraise, calculate, categorize, contrast, debate, defend, diagrams, differentiate, dissect, distinguish, experiment, inventory, map, relate, solve, subdivide, survey, test

Level 4:Analysis

•appraise, compare, conclude, contract, criticize, decide, discriminate, justify, rate, recommend, select, state, summarize, support

Level 5: Synthesis

•assemble, compose, construct, create, design, formulate, hypothesize, invent, manage, organize, plan, prepare, produce, propose, set up, speculate

Level 6: Evaluation


Assessment for Learner-centered Education. Sterling, VA: Stylus.



Course Outcomes

• Realistic, measurable

• Relate to program outcomes

• Connect courses to one

another systematically

• Build upon each other to

create an integrated whole

Program Outcomes

• Critical, broad

• Knowledge and skills develop

over time in increasing

sophistication

• Integrate skills and

knowledge

• Describe what all students

will be able to do at

completion

Pagano, N. “Defining and Assessing Program Outcomes,” The Higher Learning Commission Assessment Workshop, Lisle, IL. 22 July, 2010.


Defining Student Learning Outcomes

Initial question:

What knowledge, skills, abilities, and dispositions should

the ideal student (graduating from Gustavus)

demonstrate (in this general education area)?


Defining Student Learning Outcomes Activity

The College of Lake Wobegon“where all the students are above average”


Defining Student Learning Outcomes Activity

•Learner-centered

•Specific

•Action oriented

•Cognitively appropriate for the program level

•Measurable





Analyze the economic, environmental, and societal effects

of farmers markets on the prairie culture.

Evaluate the factors of production sustaining the prairie

economy.

Demonstrate organization of a potluck dinner.

Develop skills in researching the historical context of

prairie life.

Demonstrate mastery of nonconfrontational rhetoric

through conflict free debate.


At the completion of this session, participants will:

•Define “student learning outcome”.

•Recognize student learning outcome statements.

•Translate knowledge, skills, abilities, and dispositions into

student learning outcomes.

•Distinguish between student learning goal and student

learning outcome.

•Formulate student learning outcomes for their general

education area.

•Justify the role of student learning outcomes throughout

the institution.


Evidence and Assessment of Student Learning


Assessment Cycle (Spiral)

Mission

Identify outcomes

Gather Evidence

Interpret Evidence

Implement Change

adapted from Assessing for Learning (2004) by Peggy L. Maki


Examples of Evidence of Student Learning

Direct

Performance-Based

• Assignments

• Projects

• Portfolios

• Papers

Perceptions

Exams and Tests

• Standardized exams

• Local exams

• Licensure exams

Indirect

Surveys

• National surveys

• Local surveys

• Program/dept surveys


Accreditation and Student Learning Outcomes


The Higher Learning Commission Criteria for Accreditation

Criterion One: Mission and Integrity

Criterion Two: Preparing for the Future

Criterion Three: Student Learning and Effective

Teaching

Criterion Four: Acquisition, Discovery, and

Application of Knowledge

Criterion Five: Engagement and Service

SLIDE CATEGORY TITLE


Criterion Three Statement: The organization provides evidence of student learning and teaching effectiveness that demonstrates it is fulfilling its institutional mission.

Core Component 3a. The organization’s goals for student learning outcomes are clearly stated for each educational program and make effective assessment possible.

The Higher Learning Commission Criteria for AccreditationAddressing Student Learning Outcomes



What do we want our students to learn?

How do we know if our students are learning (what we

want them to learn)?

That’s what it’s all about!!


STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

A little learning is a dangerous thing;Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian

spring:There shallow draughts intoxicate the

brain,And drinking largely sobers us again.

Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism (1711)

Student Learning Outcomes General Education Area Review Committees October 15, 2010.

Documents

assessment of student

student learning goal

outline student learning

gustavus adolphus

assessment slide

science educator slide

benjamin disraeli slide

effective assessment