STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES/ASSESSMENT
and EVALUATION

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES (SLOs)

• All current and future syllabi to be reconciled with SACS (Southern Accreditation of Colleges and Schools) requirements must contain Students Learning Outcomes (SLOs)
• SLOs have three distinguishing characteristics
• Observable
• Measurable
• Achievable in one semester
• Course objectives that currently exist can be reworded into SLOs; by thinking about them as achievable, measurable goals and using action words, most syllabi currently have the foundation for defining SLOs
• SLOs can be easily defined by the educational goals that the student will reach during the semester.
• The SLO must convey to the student the information they will learn/apply during the semester.
• SLOs should consist of action verbs that define a level of learning within that particular outcome
  (see http://access.nku.edu/oca/slo/bloom.htm)

• Knowledge
• Comprehension
• Application
• Analysis
• Synthesis
• Evaluation

SLOs are the educational contact with the student, so that they know what knowledge they should acquire over the course of the semester.

GENERAL EDUCATION COURSES

• SLOs approved during the recertification of general education courses in 2002 must be utilized
• All general education courses must include approved SLOs in syllabi for each section

ASSESSMENT

Assessment can be described as the devices you use to evaluate whether or not the student has achieved the intended SLOs.

• Assessment should focus on improving student learning;
• The focus of assessment should not be limited to the classroom, but include the wide range of processes that influence learning
• Assessment must be directly linked to the SLOs

FACULTY ASSESSMENT

SACS is also looking at assessment of the course and its goals by the faculty member after the semester has concluded.  You can ask yourself 4 basic questions.

1. What expectations did I have of the students on the course content and SLOs at the beginning of the semester?
2. What expectations do I have of the student’s achievement of the SLOs at the end of the semester?
3. Did the students achieve the SLO goals that were laid out for them?
4. What can be done to course content and deliver to enable students to achieve the learning expectations agreed upon in the SLOs.

For more information on Student Learning Outcomes, click here.

For Powerpoint Presention on Student Learning Outcomes, click here.