2010 ASCCC Curriculum Institute Santa Clara Marriott • July 8-10, 2010

1. OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOMES:SLOs IN CORs? Kevin Bontenbal, Cuesta College Lesley Kawaguchi, Santa Monica College Virginia May, Sacramento City College 2010 ASCCC Curriculum Institute Santa Clara Marriott • July 8-10, 2010

2. Participant Learning Outcomes • After attending this session, participants should be able to: • Distinguish between “objectives” and “outcomes” as they appear in the Course Outline of Record (COR). • Explain and employ various contemporary models of curriculum development. • Develop curriculum at their campuses that is both theoretically sound and attentive to local population needs.

3. Objective: Nuts and Bolts • Describes small, discreet skills • Requires basic thinking skills • Does not necessarily result in a product

4. What the X?!& is an SLO? • Knowledge • Skills • Abilities • Attitudes that a student can demonstrate by the end of a course, program, certificate or degree

5. SLOs: The Big Picture • Requires HIGHER LEVEL thinking skills • Synthesizes many discreet skills • Requires students to APPLY what they’ve learned • Results in a product • Product must be observed, evaluated, or assessed by faculty

6. Where did these definitions come from? • Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) • See ASCCC paper, Working with the 2002 Accreditation Standards: The Faculty Role (2005), p. 12 • See Glossary • Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges • See March 2009 ACCJC Newsletter at http://www.accjc.org/pdf/March%202009%20newsletter.pdf

7. A comparison: English 1A SLO • Write essays, including research-based writing, demonstrating academic rhetorical strategies and documentation. Objectives: • Develop a main idea • Maintain a clear command of tone • Show control of standard English grammar

8. Other Sample Outcomes • Biology: Apply concepts of chemistry to physiological systems • Speech: Deliverwell-researched speeches to inform and persuade • Dental Hygiene: Demonstrate technique of soft-tissue curettage on clinic patients

9. Clicker Quiz • Answer the following questions. • Push A if you think the statement is an SLO. • Push B if you think it’s an objective.

10. SLO or Objective? • (History course) Identify key dates in American History to 1865. • A. SLO • B. Objective

11. SLO or Objective? • History Course: Students can demonstrate factual and chronologically accurate knowledge of key events, issues, trends, and people of the relevant time period and geographic region. • A. SLO • B. Objective

12. SLO or Objective? • (Engineering course) Functioning as a member of a team, the student will design and present a concrete structure which complies with engineering standards. • A. SLO • B. Objective

13. SLO or Objective? • (Epidemiology course) Define and assess an epidemic for a given population and recommend factors influencing the use of health services. • A. SLO • B. Objective

14. SLO or Objective? • (Sociology course) Demonstrate an understanding that individuals (and their families) must be regarded uniquely as individuals with many contributing variables such as multicultural issues. • A. SLO • B. Objective

15. SLO or Objective? • (Math course) Given data, students will analyze information and create a graph that is correctly titled and labeled, appropriately designed, and accurately emphasizes the most important data content. • A. SLO • B. Objective

16. True or False? • The college’s mission is peripheral to program or departmental missions in matters of curriculum development. • A. True • B. False

17. True or False? • The course outline of record MUST contain a reference to critical thinking. • A. True • B. False

18. True or False? • Title 5 states that Student Learning Outcomes need to be part of the Course Outline of Record. • True • False

19. Resolution 9.10 Spring 2009 • Topic:  Curriculum • Whereas, Curriculum and student success are areas where the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has professional responsibility; • Whereas, Approximately 50% of California’s community colleges that responded to surveys about placing Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) on the Course Outline of Record (COR) reported their decision not to include SLOs on the COR, while other colleges either did not respond or have not decided; and • Whereas, Housing SLOs in some other public domain entity can still allow students, community members, and accrediting agencies to review and track progress of SLOs at community colleges; • Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges encourage local senates to publish Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) in any appropriate public domain entity such as the course outline of record, database, webpage, etc.

20. True or False? • Title 5 mandates that Student Learning Outcomes must be on an individual instructor’s syllabus. • True • False

21. ACCJC • Must SLOs appear in the faculty members’ course syllabi? • Yes. The answer to this question appears at the beginning of this article, in the quotation from Standard II.A.6. The Commission acknowledges that the use of the words “learning objectives” in this standard appears to be vestigial language from the 1994 Standards. The Commission changed the words “learning objectives” to “student learning outcomes” in January, 2010.

22. True or False? • There is a standard definition of “critical thinking” in both the Ed. Code and Title 5 that can be applied to all courses and programs. • A. True • B. False

23. True or False? • Formative and summative assessments are mutually exclusive. • A. True • B. False

24. Value/Valor • What do we value in a course of study? • How do we demonstrate this? • When do we apply these values to learning in the classroom?

25. Formative and Summative • How do we evaluate student assignments? • Formative assessment: Student self-assessment Feedback (a la Classroom Assessment Techniques) • Summative assessment: Unit tests Essays and papers Midterms Final exams Capstone projects

26. Resistance is Futile: The Taxa Are Here • Bloom (1956) • Wiggins and McTighe (1996) • Fink (2003)

27. The Promised Land (a.k.a Critical Thinking) • “Critical thinking skills are those diverse cognitive processes and associated attitudes critical to intelligent action in diverse situations and fields that can be improved by instruction or conscious effort.” Nancy Glock, 1987

28. Thank You! • Please fill out the evaluations. • The presentations will be posted on the ASCCC website under the Curriculum Institute within 2 weeks.