Focus on Learning: Student Outcomes Assessment and the Learning College

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Focus on LearningStudent OutcomesAssessment
and theLearning College
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American Association for Higher Education and The
Higher Learning Commission

• Changing Institutional Priorities
• Conference Workshop
• Omaha, Nebraska
• June 2003

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Original Presentation by

• Gail Mee
• Dean of Instruction
• Mesa Community College
• 1833 West Southern Avenue
• Mesa, Arizona 85202
• ltgailmee_at_mail.mc.maricopa.edugt

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The Assessment Problem

• Assessment goes against the grain of academic
  culture.
• Faculty are suspect of the motivations that
  underlie assessment.
• The academic community believes that assessment
  lacks scientific rigor.
• Marchese, 2000

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Why Assess Student Learning?

• To respond to demands for accountability from
  external constituents.
• To provide evidence of institutional
  effectiveness.
• To document successes and identify weaknesses in
  programs.
• To improve the curriculum, instruction, and
  student learning.

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Purpose of Assessment

• The overriding purpose of assessment is to
  understand how educational programs are working
  and to determine whether they are contributing to
  student growth and development. Hence, the
  ultimate emphasis of assessment is on programs
  rather than on individual students.
• Palomba Banta, 1999
• Assessment Essentials

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Assessment and the Learning College

• A new kind of college . . .
• The call has gone out for building a new kind of
  college A Learning College for the 21st Century
  that will focus the full resources of the college
  on student learning.
• OBanion, 1997

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An Inventory for Learning Centered Colleges

• OBanion (2000) posits 14 benchmark activities to
  be used as guidelines for learning-centered
  colleges.
• Three of these benchmarks relate directly to
  assessing student learning.

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Learning-Centered Colleges

• Hold Conversations about Learning
• Identify and Agree on Learning Outcomes
• Assess and Document Learning Outcomes
• OBanion, Community College Journal,
• Aug/Sept 2000

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Elements of the learning college

• Belief in everyone as a learner
• Shared purpose, values, and leadership
• Respect for individualism and community
• Communication and connections
• Learning environments
• Evidence of learning

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Ten Guiding Assessment Principles for the
Learning College
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Guiding Principles

• 1. Assessment is driven by college values.
• Student learning outcomes are aligned with
  college mission, vision, and values.
• Student learning outcomes that are valued are
  assessed.

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Guiding Principles

• 2. The college makes a long-term commitment.
• The board and administration make public
  statements about the importance of assessment.
• There are published statements about assessment
  in key documents.
• The college has committed resources to assessment.

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Guiding Principles

• 3. The Chief Academic Officer understands and
  believes in the value of assessment.
• CAO has responsibility for leadership of
  assessment.
• CAO encourages participation and provides support
  for faculty involvement and professional
  development.
• CAO ensures that results are used appropriately.

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Guiding Principles

• 4. Faculty lead the program and own the results.
• Faculty define student learning outcomes.
• Faculty identify or develop appropriate tools for
  assessment.
• Faculty use assessment results to make
  programmatic changes and improve learning.

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4. Faculty lead the program and own the results,
contd.

• Faculty governing body is an integral part of the
  assessment process.
• A majority of faculty are knowledgeable about
  assessment vocabulary and practices.
• Faculty pursue development opportunities related
  to assessment.

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Guiding Principles

• 5. Technical expertise and support are provided.
• Research Office plays a formal support role, or
  knowledgeable staff or faculty play that role.
• Roles of faculty and technical support staff are
  clearly defined.

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Guiding Principles

• 6. Learning outcomes are clearly defined at the
  program level.
• The difference between course and program
  assessment is clear.
• The college has clearly identified programs.
• Student learning is assessed at the completion of
  a program.

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Program Level Outcomes

• Program level outcomes are not just an
  accumulation of course objectives. Rather, they
  reflect a synthesis, or a holistic picture, or
  what is expected of students completing a defined
  program or course of study.

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Defining Student Learning Outcomes

• Faculty collaborate and determine specific
  student outcomes for a given program of study.
• The outcomes describe what students will be able
  to do at the completion of the program.

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MCC Sample Gen Ed Outcome Written Communication

• Write a clear, well-organized paper using
  documentation when appropriate.

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Guiding Principles

• 7. Measurement tools align directly with learning
  outcomes.
• Outcomes are clearly defined before measures are
  developed.
• Selected measures match the defined outcomes.

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Measurement Tools

• Faculty select or develop measures specifically
  aligned with well-defined student learning
  outcomes.
• The measure may be faculty-developed or
  externally-developed standardized measures.
• Measures should be pilot-tested.

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MCC Measurement Tool Written Communication

• Students are given a writing prompt for which
  they must develop and argue for their position on
  the given topic. Students write a multi-paragraph
  essay.
• The essays are blind scored by faculty using a
  faculty-developed scoring rubric.

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Guiding Principles

• 8. Sound research design and methodology are
  used.
• There is a systematic plan for gathering,
  analyzing, reporting, and disseminating the
  results.
• What is assessed?
• Who is assessed?
• How are the assessments administered?
• Where and when are they administered?

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Guiding Principles

• 9. Results are used by faculty to improve
  learning.
• A process is in place for sharing results with
  faculty.
• Faculty are making changes to curriculum and
  instruction based upon assessment results.

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Guiding Principles

• 10. Assessment is linked to college planning.
• Results are used to develop department plans.
• Results of assessment inform college planning and
  budgeting decisions.

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Linking Assessment and Planning

• Using assessment results to improve student
  learning is a stated goal in the College
  Strategic Plan.
• Faculty and departments develop systems for
  reviewing results to improve curriculum,
  instruction, and student learning.
• The college-wide planning process provides a
  structure to complete the feedback loop.

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Sustaining Assessment for the Long Term

• Create an expectation for assessment among
  students.
• Catalog, schedule, student handbook, student
  newspaper, web sites
• Disseminate the results of assessment.
• Annual assessment reports, faculty publications,
  newsletters, web sites
• Constantly evaluate the outcomes, measures,
  procedures, and results.

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Sustaining Assessment Contd.

• Link assessment results to planning and budgeting
  processes.
• Engage faculty in decision-making during every
  stage of the process.
• Allow the program to evolve and mature.

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Assessment and the Learning College

• Student outcomes assessment places learning at
  the center of the academic program and the
  student experience.
• Assessment is a necessary component of the
  learning college

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A Continuous Cycle Focused on Learning