What are they?
Student learning outcomes (SLOs) in themselves are familiar to us. They are the verb-begun statements, often based on Bloom’s taxonomy, that define the specific knowledge, skills, and abilities that we expect our students to master in our classes.
SLOs are just the first step in a recursive process of research, review, and re-thinking. In other words, where once we just defined our outcomes, we will now describe our students’ mastery of these outcomes, and also develop methods of re-teaching as needed. This is the cycle of assessment and inquiry that we are engaged in.
What are the foundations of this focus?
External forces:
- WASC, ACJCC, and the State Academic Senate are committed to moving colleges and universities to a learner-centered model that includes SLOs at the institutional, program, and course levels. AND, more importantly to the cycle of assessment where data is reviewed, talked about, and acted upon at all levels of the institution.
Internal Needs:
- Colleges are heeding the above and also acknowledging the great body of research that supports the notion that continual feedback supports learning, that deep learning requires metacognition, and that faculty inquiry into what works in the classroom is fundamental to student success.
- In fact, the State Academic Senate holds fast to the belief that faculty have primacy over curriculum development, as well as assessment of that curriculum. In other words, faculty are best positioned to determine what outcomes make sense in any given discipline and how they can best be assessed.
What is our mandate?
WASC, ACJCC, and the Academic Senate recognize that this mandate will require work at many institutions, but they also note that in most cases, re-imagining what already exists and what can be adapted will meet the guidelines.
Here at Foothill, we have already completed our institutional SLOs (the Four Competencies) and we are in the process of developing and assessing these SLOs at an institutional level (the FRAMES projects). Our current task then is to continue to develop assessment cycles for course level outcomes.
This means that, each year, we will build on the cycle of assessment (SLO/assessment method/dialogue & re-envisioning) by focusing one by one on the SLOs we’ve designed for the courses we teach.
In a nutshell, we need to answer the questions:
- What learning is taking place?
- How can we measure this learning?
- How can we improve the learning that is taking place?
How will we proceed?
This process was explained at our convocation in Spring 2008 and our research on that cycle was reported in Spring 2009, after our Convocations focusing on Assessment (Fall 2008, Reflection on Data (Winter 2009), and Making Sustainable Changes in Teaching (Spring 2009). Workshops, mentors, and training guidelines were and are available during this continuing process. Faculty will also have access to the SLO Hotline and FAQ page to get quick answers to burning questions about assessing and reflecting on SLOs.
Thereafter, faculty will work through the regular course outlines process to develop SLOs that are aligned with assessment cycles in the same way that they make Title V changes to curriculum.
All SLOs, their development and the reflection on them are archived in our CMS website.
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