Quick Tips for SLO Integration

1. Quick Tips for SLO Integration Writing Learning Outcomes

2. A Definition of Outcomes • “Learning outcomes are the essential and enduring knowledge, abilities (skills) and attitudes (values, dispositions) that constitute the integrated learning needed by a graduate of a course or program.” PIDP 3210 • “The learning outcomes approach to education means basing program and curriculum design, content and delivery on an explicit identification of the integrated knowledge, skills and values needed by both students and society.” Battersby (1998)

3. The importance of context • Learning outcomes presuppose at least one context. • These could include: • The mission, ends, and values of an institutional • A particular program department or school • An environmental context (society or culture) • The creative capacity of students to learn by constructing learning

4. An institutional context • “In order to understand Outcomes-Based Education (OBE), it is necessary to first… understand the framework in which the OBE exists, and in particular, the framework in which it exists for you the developer or instructor…. Outcomes reflect a different way to think about curriculum and a different way to think about teaching and learning.” • “In addition, it is important that people working together on an outcomes-based curriculum project develop and share a ‘common sense’ of this context in which they are all operating. Project leaders must ensure that timeis taken to ensure that such contexts are made explicit. Giving a person a definition of OBE without context is like giving them a goldfish in a plastic bag without any water.” PIDP 3120

5. An environmental context • “The approach we advocate is for faculty to always think first about what is essential that students know or be able to do after the course or program - what students need to know and could make powerful use of to enhance their lives. We believe that such reflection will lead instructors to focus on a broad synthesis of abilities that combine knowledge, skills and attitudes into a whole that reflects how people use what they really know.” (Battersby, 1998) • What do students need to be able to do 'out there' that we are responsible for 'in here' (i.e., in the learning environment)?“ • In other words, ‘What is the nature of the sea, upon which the ship we are building, will sail’?

6. Outcomes and Assessment • "Key to the outcomes approach [in BC] is an approach to assessment that emphasizes 'authentic assessment' ...[i.e.,] creating assignments that stimulate as much as possible the [real-life outside-of-class] situations in which students would make use of the knowledge, skills and values emphasized in the course."(Battersby, 1998)

7. Outcomes and Assessment • “In fact, such 'authentic' or 'model' assignments, derived from real-life outside-of­ class workplace situations, are one of the initial places to begin the processes of discerning and developing learning outcomes; i.e., first deal with the reality of the so-called 'real world' and then reflect in order to discern the outcomes. This is in contrast to traditional models which suggest defining the objectives or competencies of a particular course and then determining the appropriate learning experiences and evaluation strategies.” (Battersby, 1998).

8. Outcomes Express Alignment • Outcomes of individual courses are aligned with the global Student Learning Outcomes of Trinity Western University and these reflect its mission, ends and values. • Outcomes of individual courses are also aligned with the outcomes of a specific department, faculty or school. • Outcomes of individual courses are aligned with what is needed ‘out there’ in society and culture, • Because all pedagogy reflects anthropology, outcomes are aligned with the capacity of students to construct knowledge and application.

9. The Attributes of Outcomes In summary, well-crafted outcomes: • Integrate knowledge, skills and attitudes • Express alignment with various institutional contexts • Ensure relevance and application to ‘real world’ contexts • Foster student self-reflection. • Promote a student’s creative ability to take initiative and figure things out for themselves

10. Types of Outcomes As we have noted, all outcomes describe what the students will do Three types of learning outcomes: • Performance outcomes : specify behaviour or performance, also known as competencies and include conditions and standards. • Confluent outcomes: indicate what the learner will know and do including both cognitive and affective (valuing/ feeling) domains. • Expressive outcomes: foster a reflective process through which learners describe or ‘express’ what they have learned through, for example, examination and appraisal.

11. Writing Learning Outcomes • Typically we employ a stem phrase which states the intention of the outcome: e.g. Students will be able to… A diligent student will be able to… A graduate of this program shall be able to… • What follows that phrase is an active verb drawn from one of three domains: • Cognitive - knowledge and dealing with that knowledge • Affective - beliefs, attitudes values • Psycho-motor – sequence of motion, prescribed task

12. Measurable Learning Outcome • Learning outcomes are not about what the instructors can provide, but what the students can demonstrate. • When writing a measurable learning outcome, it is important to: • focus on student behavior • use simple, specific action verbs • select appropriate assessment methods • state desired performance criteria

13. Outcomes enable Assessment Observable Performance • write • praise • operate • analyze • organize • demonstrate • describe Non-observable Performance • understand • know • learn • remember • enjoy • perceive • become familiar with

14. Checklist for writing learning outcomes • Focus on outcomes, not processes • Start each outcome with an action verb • Use only one action verb per learning outcome • Avoid vague verbs such as know and understand • Check that the verbs used reflect the level of learning required • Ensure that outcomes are observable and measurable • Write the outcomes in terms of what the learner does, not what the instructor does • Check that the outcomes reflect knowledge, skills, or attitudes required in society and the workplace • Include outcomes that are woven into the entire course (such as work effectively in teams) • Check that there are the appropriate number of outcomes (no more than three per major topic) • List the sub-outcomes (learning tasks) for each outcome • Check that the outcomes fit within your program and TWU SLO’s Adapted from http://kb.bcit.ca/files/articles/fsr/teach/courseprep/ja_learningoutcomes.pdf

15. The use of taxonomies • Well-crafted outcomes not only employ active verbs, but verbs that are deliberately chosen to reflect a certain levels - from simple to complex - of thinking or valuing or behaviour. • Various authors have created an order of levels of learning within various domains. • Perhaps the most commonly used of these taxonomies is Bloom’s taxonomy covering three domains, namely cognitive, affective and psycho-motor.

16. A taxonomy for the cognitive domain

17. Cognitive Domain

18. Affective Domain • 1. Receive - learner is aware of listening to or passively attending to certain stimuli • 2. Respond - learner complies with expectations by participating or obeying • 3. Value - learner displays behaviour consistent with a belief or attitude in situations with which he/she is not forced to comply • 4. Organization - learner is committed to set of values and displays, provides rationale for, or communicates the value • 5. Characterization – learner’s total behaviour is consistent with values and internalizing them.

19. Psychomotor Domain • 1. Imitation - learner can copy the action of another, observe and replicate • 2. Manipulation - learner can reproduce action from written directions or memory • 3. Precision – learner attains skill in performing an action independent of either a visual, or verbal model, attains accuracy and control • 4. Articulation – adapts and integrates expertise within a new context or task • 5. Naturalization – learner can routinely instinctively and effortlessly perform an action, attains spontaneity automatically.

20. Simple Outcomes Verbs

21. Intermediate Outcomes Verbs

22. Complex Outcomes Verbs

23. Verbs Related to Particular Tasks • Producing a Sequence of Words • Dealing with two or more stimuli • Using concepts • Producing a single isolated response • Producing a sequence of motion • Using principles • Combining two or more principles • Information Collection and Processing Work • Decision-making Work

24. Producing a Sequence of Words • to cite • to copy • to enumerate • to letter • to list • to quote • to recite • to record • to reiterate • to repeat • to reproduce • to (re)state • to transcribe • to type • to choose

25. Dealing with two or more stimuli • to compare • to contrast • to couple • to decide • to detect • to differentiate • to discern • to distinguish • to isolate • to judge • to match • to mate • to pair • to pick • to recognize • to select

26. Using concepts • to allocate • to arrange • to assign • to catalogue • to categorize • to characterize • to classify • to collect • to divide • to file • to grade • to group • to index • to inventory • to itemize • to order • to rank • to rate • to reject • to screen • to sort • to specify • to survey • to tabulate

27. Producing a single isolated response • to associate • to give a word for • to grasp (w/ hand) • to hold • to identify • to indicate • to label • to lift • to locate • to loosen • to move • to name • to pick up • to place • to press • to pull • to recognize • to repeat • to reply • to respond • to rotate • to set • to signal • to slide • to tighten • to touch • to twist

28. Producing a Sequence of Motion • to activate • to adjust • to align • to close • to copy • to (dis)assemble • to (dis)connect • to draw • to duplicate • to insert • to load • to manipulate • to measure • to open • to operate • to remove • to stencil • to trace • to tune • to turn off/on

29. Using Principles • to anticipate • to calculate • to calibrate • to check • to compile • to compute • to conclude • to construct • to convert • to coordinate • to correct • to deduce • to define • to demonstrate • to design • to determine • to diagram • to equate • to estimate • to evaluate • to examine • to expect • to explain • to extrapolate 

30. Using Principles • to figure • to foresee • to generalize • to illustrate • to infer • to interpolate • to interpret • to monitor • to organize • to plan • to predict • to prescribe • to program • to project • to schedule • to solve • to translate • to verify

31. Combining two or more principles • to accommodate • to adapt • to adjust to • to analyze • to compose • to contrive • to correlate • to create • to develop • to devise • to diagnose • to discover • to find a way • to invent • to realize • to reason • to resolve • to study • to synthesize • to think through • to troubleshoot

32. Supervisory and Management Work • advise • analyze • appraise • approve • assess • assign • compare • conduct • contact • counsel • determine • diagnose • draft • establish • estimate • forecast • implement • initiate • interpret • Interview • Investigate • maintain

33. Supervisory and Management Work • manage • monitor • negotiate • observe • orient • participate • perform • plan • prepare • process • recommend • review • schedule • sign • study • submit • supervise • verify

34. Information Collection and Processing Work • analyze • ascertain • audit • calculate • check • compile • compute • confer • consult • count • diagnose • gather • identify • inspect • interview • inventory • locate • measure • observe • obtain

35. Information Collection and Processing Work • proof • receive • review • verify • weight

36. Decision-making Work • approve • compare • decide • determine • estimate • evaluate • judge • rate • test