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Defining Student Learning Outcomes

Student learning outcomes are statements that specify what students will know, be able to do, or be able to demonstrate when they have completed a course or program of study.  Learning outcomes describe the essential content knowledge to be mastered or critical skills that can be demonstrated in either an individual course or in a disciplinary curriculum.  Typically, these outcomes encompass the competencies, knowledge, and skills that students will demonstrate at the end of the course or program of study.  

Characteristics of Student Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes traditionally reference three domains: knowledge, skills, and dispositions/attitudes, and reflect different levels of content mastery.   For students taking introductory courses in a discipline, learning outcomes will likely focus more on remembering and understanding the basic terminology, concepts, and concentrations/perspectives of the field.  In a capstone course, on the other hand, the focus will likely emphasize the integration and utilization of various aspects of the discipline in the development of solutions to a specific problem.  

Regardless of the domain, student learning outcomes should lead with an action verb.  Bloom’s taxonomy of learning domains remains the seminal source for action verbs along a continuum of levels of knowledge.  Because learning outcomes are focused on student performance, the action verbs address student behaviors.  Thus, assessing student mastery of basic knowledge would involve asking students to list the six levels of knowledge on a test, while assessing the ability of a student to use their knowledge of the six levels could involve asking students to apply the six levels to various scenarios.  The more knowledge a student has about a particular subject, the more sophisticated their understanding, and therefore, the more complex the tasks to be assessed can be.  

Regardless of which domain the learning outcome addresses, or the level of knowledge being assessed, the student learning outcome should tell a student how they are going to demonstrate their content mastery in a particular context.  

It is important that student learning outcomes be developed at both the Course and Program of Study level

Course Student Learning Outcomes

Course goals/objectives vs. student learning outcomes: related, but not interchangeable

Course goals and/or objectives are broad statements about general expectations for what students can expect from taking the class.  While the language may use student-achievement terms, they are usually written in broad, general, aspirational language.  For example, “The course will introduce students to the scope and usefulness of an understanding of statistics with practical and relevant real-life examples and data….”  The focus of a course goal/objective is on the instructor and the course.

Student learning outcomes are derived from the course goals and objectives.  The language is action-oriented and focused on what students are going to be able to do after taking the class.  For example, “students will be able to apply regression equations to predict the value of one variable given the value of another.”  The focus is on the student’s ability to demonstrate mastery of knowledge and skills learned in the course.  

Course objectives state the purpose and goals of the course.  Learning outcomes inform students what information they will master in the course and how they will demonstrate that mastery.  Course objectives can be converted into student learning outcomes by tweaking the language to reflect the specific actions, behaviors, or tasks that are the focus of student assessment. 

Programmatic/Curricular Learning Outcomes

Course objectives and/or course goals should be specific instances of programmatic or curricular learning outcomes.  All courses required by the major should address student learning outcomes directly related to course and curricular course learning outcomes.  This allows faculty and departments to assess similar outcomes at various stages of the students’ education.  This vertical alignment also helps ensure that the faculty, students, and the curriculum are working in a coherent and structured manner. 

Consider the following example of student learning outcomes developed for the B.A. in Art History program of study:

Art/Design History, Theory, and Criticism.  Through comprehensive courses in the history of art/design, students must:

• Learn to analyze works of art/design from both Western and non-Western cultures perceptively and to evaluate them critically.
• Develop an understanding of the common elements and vocabulary of art/design and of the interaction of these elements and be able to employ this knowledge in analysis.
• Acquire the ability to place works of art/design in historical, cultural, and stylistic contexts ()

Faculty may decide to assess learning outcome (b) in various courses in the required major coursework.  In an introductory course, remembering and understanding the terms might be emphasized, while in later courses, the emphasis may be on the ability to use the elements and vocabulary accurately and effectively in assessment activities focusing on analysis.  Similarly, an introductory course in art history may assess students’ ability to accurately differentiate art from western and non-western cultures, while an upper-level course asks them to evaluate the different elements of this dichotomy in multicultural communities.  Taken together, the department has a picture of students’ development over time.

Assessing Student Learning Outcomes

There are many options available to assess learning outcomes.  In general, measures represent one of two types:

• Direct measures provide actual proof of student learning and are conducted throughout a course or program.  They include exams, quizzes, demonstrations, and reports that result in artifacts such as essays, exams, or projects.  Often direct measures are completed using scoring guides or rubrics.
• Indirect measures supplement direct measures of learning by assessing opinions or thoughts about student knowledge or skills.  These measures usually take place at a single point in time rather than throughout a course or program of study.  Indirect measures involve other indicators of success like self-reported surveys or attitudinal scores.

At the program level, faculty should consider using a combination of direct and indirect measures. 
Key questions faculty should address include:

Does the measure selected assess the key elements of the learning outcome?  
Be sure that the measure selected is aligned with the key components stated in the student learning outcome.

Across learning outcomes, is the faculty using multiple types of measures to assess student learning?
Think about the different types of measures available. For example, faculty may want to include multiple direct measures (e.g., a faculty-developed examination for content knowledge, a national examination for content knowledge, a scored measure using a rubric for demonstration of key performances in a capstone project) as well as an indirect measure (survey of student perception on ability to solve problems using program knowledge/skills).

Are assessments occurring at multiple points in the program of study? 
Ideally, the assessments selected to measure student learning do not all occur at a single point in the program of study (e.g., program completion). Faculty should identify measures that occur at multiple points (e.g., content knowledge examination in first and last major courses, performance assessment in three key courses with application assignments, capstone assessment in final major course).

What about grades?

Course grades certainly reflect student learning, but they also incorporate other elements that are not directly related to the student learning outcomes for a course.  Even if a course grade is based solely on test and essay assignments, elements other than student learning outcomes affect the grade.  Tests and other methods of assessment can be leveraged by looking at questions or elements of the assignment that directly address a student learning outcome and evaluating learning across all students taking the test.  

Assume this is a student learning outcome in an introductory chemistry class: “Students will be able to identify the elements from the periodic table based on their symbols.” On a test, there is a question (or perhaps a couple) asking students to look at symbols and match the symbol to the correct element.  Faculty can examine that question to see what percentage of students got it correct or got elements of it correct.  By looking at how the class performed on this specific question, the instructor may decide that she needs to spend more time in class making sure that students are getting practice in identifying and using symbols correctly.  Identifying elements of assignments that directly address a learning outcome and looking at student performance across the class is a way to use data from a test to improve student learning.  

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Using Assessment Results

Assessment results are used at two levels: 1) student performance at the course level, and 2) program effectiveness at the program of study level.

As previously described, individual performance measures are used at the course level to assist in determining the grade earned by enrolled students.  Assessment data may also be analyzed to verify the effectiveness of instruction and/or determine changes needed in content and or delivery to improve student performance.

At the program level, faculty use assessment data to determine areas in the program of study where students are achieving at, above, and below the level of expectation (i.e., target level).  Faculty should work collaboratively to incorporate assessment findings in the program Institutional Effectiveness Plan in Weave.  Based on findings, faculty develop a set of actions to implement in the next year’s Institutional Effectiveness cycle to improve student performance.  More information on the Institutional Effectiveness process may be found at /oier/institutional-effectiveness.

Alignment with Accreditation Organizations/Learned Societies

For faculty teaching in an externally accredited program, student learning outcomes for the program should be aligned with those endorsed by the external organization responsible for the accreditation process. Institutional Effectiveness efforts should support the assessment of the same student learning outcomes that assist the program with undergoing a successful accreditation review.

For faculty teaching in a program without external accreditation, it may be possible to identify student learning outcomes recommended by one or more professional organizations aligned with the discipline. When available, recommended practices can assist faculty in adopting a well-organized set of student learning outcomes for the program. 

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