Module One: Writing Student Learning Outcomes

1. Module One: Writing Student Learning Outcomes Davidson County Community College May - 2011

2. Module One: Writing Student Learning Outcomes • Topics • What are SLOs? • Six Steps to Writing Effective SLOs • Writing SLOs that Encourage Critical Thinking • Evaluation of SLOs in Course Syllabus • Development of Course Tracking Matrix to Show Progression of Outcomes Outcomes:At the completion of the session faculty should be able to: Define an intended Student Learning Outcome (SL0). Discuss the benefits of effective SLOs for students and faculty. Describe the relationship among the College mission, program goals, course outcomes and student learning outcomes. Write effective SLOs using action verbs. Write SLOs at different levels of critical thinking using Bloom’s Taxonomy. Evaluate SLOs in current syllabi and revise to meet criteria of effective SLOs. Develop a course tracking matrix to follow progression of outcomes throughout the course and the curriculum. Updating Curriculum to Support Learning DCCC Perkins Grant

3. What are SLOs? Student learning outcomes describe measurable knowledge, skills, and behaviors that students should be able to demonstrate as a result of completing the program. Focused on what the student can do. Therefore they are intended outcomes. Use active verbs.  Active verbs are easier to measure. Include an assessable expectation that is observable and measurable. Source: Suskie, L. (2009). Assessing student learning: A common sense guide(2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. • Helps to improve teaching practices • Guides our teaching strategies and assessment • Maintains high standards. • Produces consistency of standards between course sections • Gives students more responsibility. • Validates both what we are teaching and why we are teaching it. • Directs our teaching practices to be more student/learning-centered. • Informs students of the expectations up front. Benefits of SLOs for Faculty and Students SLO Relationships: Linkage of SLO to program and institutional level outcomes is essential. I-3 Updating Curriculum to Support Learning DCCC Perkins Grant

4. Model for Updating Curriculum to Improve Teaching and Learning Improve Write Improve the Curriculum Write the Outcomes Assess Teach Assess Outcomes Teach to Outcomes I-4 Updating Curriculum to Support Learning DCCC Perkins Grant

5. Stage One: Write the Outcomes How do I write outcomes to let students know what is expected of them? SLOs should… reflect the institutional and departmental mission statements; focus on knowledge and skills that are central to the course topic and/or discipline; be limited to 5 – 10 statements; incorporate various ways for students to show success; be student-centered rather than faculty-centered. Write “ Documenting student learning is easier if you first specify what you want students to do with the course content.” --- Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence, Penn State University I-5 Updating Curriculum to Support Learning DCCC Perkins Grant

6. Six Steps For Writing Student Learning Outcomes I-6 Updating Curriculum to Support Learning DCCC Perkins Grant

7. Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to Write SLOs Student will experience more success in your classes if they know up front what is expected of them. Writing student learning outcomes (SLO) using Bloom’s Taxonomy can assist you to challenge your students to think critically. Source: Krathwohl, D. R., Bloom, B. S., & Masia, B. B. (1973). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, the Classification of Educational Goals. Handbook II: Affective Domain. New York: David McKay Co., Inc. I-7 Updating Curriculum to Support Learning DCCC Perkins Grant

8. Identifying Appropriate SLOs Worksheet Look at the following outcome statements and determine if they follow the writing guidelines. If not, please rewrite the statement. At the completion of the course students should be able to: Know the appropriate literacy experiences for children at each stage of literacy development. Explain the difference between criminal law and civil tort law. . Defend the vital need for a customer orientation on the part of all employees of an organization. Compare and contrast the foreign policy of Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower. Understand the influence of personalities on history. Demonstrate how to change a tire and how to check the refrigerant. Create a weekly newsletter that communicates developmentally appropriate information . Choose one of the courses you teach. Write a student learning outcome for that course at each of the 6 levels of critical thinking in Bloom’s Taxonomy. I-8 Updating Curriculum to Support Learning DCCC Perkins Grant

9. Worksheet to Evaluate SLOs in Syllabus I-9 Updating Curriculum to Support Learning DCCC Perkins Grant

10. Matrix to Track Relationship of SLO the Course to the Program Outcomes Student Learning Outcomes for HIT 216 Quality Management State quality assurance philosophy and purpose. Evaluate diagnostic and treatment documentation. Relate QA terms to the JCAHO health care quality vision. Prepare data presentations. I-10 Updating Curriculum to Support Learning DCCC Perkins Grant

11. Example of Progression of SLOs Source: Taken from course syllabi from Heather Watson, Health Information Instructor at Davidson County Community College. Spring 2011

12. Matrix to Track Progression of PLO in the Curriculum Use the following code to indicate in which courses the outcomes are I = Introduced R = Reinforced M = Mastered I-12 Updating Curriculum to Support Learning DCCC Perkins Grant

13. My Plan for Writing Effective SLOs • Course(s) in which I wish to make changes: • Changes I need to make in writing SLOs include: • ______________________________________________ • ______________________________________________ • ______________________________________________ • ______________________________________________ • Time line I plan to use: “I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” Albert Einstein

14. Session Evaluation • One thing I will take from the workshop that I can apply is … • _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ • I would have learned better if you would have… • _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ • The handout materials were… • _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ • Using the scale of 1 to 5, please place a check by the number where would you rate how you felt your expectations were met for this session. “I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” Albert Einstein I-14 Updating Curriculum to Support Learning DCCC Perkins Grant