OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOMES: SLOs IN CORs?

1
OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOMESSLOs IN CORs?
Kevin Bontenbal, Cuesta College Lesley Kawaguchi,
Santa Monica College Virginia May, Sacramento
City College
2010 ASCCC Curriculum Institute Santa Clara
Marriott July 8-10, 2010
2
Participant Learning Outcomes

• After attending this session, participants should
  be able to
• Distinguish between objectives and outcomes
  as they appear in the Course Outline of Record
  (COR).
• Explain and employ various contemporary models of
  curriculum development.
• Develop curriculum at their campuses that is both
  theoretically sound and attentive to local
  population needs.

3
Objective Nuts and Bolts

• Describes small, discreet skills
• Requires basic thinking skills
• Does not necessarily result in a product

4
What the X?! is an SLO?

• Knowledge
• Skills
• Abilities
• Attitudes
• that a student can demonstrate by the end of a
  course, program, certificate or degree

5
SLOs The Big Picture

• Requires HIGHER LEVEL thinking
• skills
• Synthesizes many discreet skills
• Requires students to APPLY what theyve learned
• Results in a product
• Product must be observed, evaluated, or assessed
  by faculty

6
Where did these definitions come from?

• Academic Senate for California Community Colleges
  (ASCCC)
• See ASCCC paper, Working with the 2002
  Accreditation Standards The Faculty Role
  (2005), p. 12
• See Glossary
• Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior
  Colleges
• See March 2009 ACCJC Newsletter at
  http//www.accjc.org/pdf/March20200920newsletter
  .pdf

7
A comparison English 1A

• Objectives
• Develop a main idea
• Maintain a clear command of tone
• Show control of standard English grammar

• SLO
• Write essays, including research-based writing,
  demonstrating academic rhetorical strategies and
  documentation.

8
Other Sample Outcomes

• Biology Apply concepts of chemistry to
  physiological systems
• Speech Deliverwell-researched speeches to inform
  and persuade
• Dental Hygiene Demonstrate technique of
  soft-tissue curettage on clinic patients

9
Clicker Quiz

• Answer the following questions.
• Push A if you think the statement is an SLO.
• Push B if you think its an objective.

10
SLO or Objective?

• (History course) Identify key dates in American
  History to 1865.
• A. SLO
• B. Objective

11
SLO or Objective?

• History Course Students can demonstrate factual
  and chronologically accurate knowledge of key
  events, issues, trends, and people of the
  relevant time period and geographic region.
• A. SLO
• B. Objective

12
SLO or Objective?

• (Engineering course) Functioning as a member of a
  team, the student will design and present a
  concrete structure which complies with
  engineering standards.
• A. SLO
• B. Objective

13
SLO or Objective?

• (Epidemiology course) Define and assess an
  epidemic for a given population and recommend
  factors influencing the use of health services.
• A. SLO
• B. Objective

14
SLO or Objective?

• (Sociology course) Demonstrate an understanding
  that individuals (and their families) must be
  regarded uniquely as individuals with many
  contributing variables such as multicultural
  issues.
• A. SLO
• B. Objective

15
SLO or Objective?

• (Math course) Given data, students will analyze
  information and create a graph that is correctly
  titled and labeled, appropriately designed, and
  accurately emphasizes the most important data
  content.
• A. SLO
• B. Objective

16
True or False?

• The colleges mission is peripheral to program or
  departmental missions in matters of curriculum
  development.
• A. True
• B. False

17
True or False?

• The course outline of record MUST contain a
  reference to critical thinking.
• A. True
• B. False

18
True or False?

• Title 5 states that Student Learning Outcomes
  need to be part of the Course Outline of Record.
• True
• False

19
Resolution 9.10 Spring 2009

• Topic  Curriculum
• Whereas, Curriculum and student success are areas
  where the Academic Senate for California
  Community Colleges has professional
  responsibility
• Whereas, Approximately 50 of Californias
  community colleges that responded to surveys
  about placing Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) on
  the Course Outline of Record (COR) reported their
  decision not to include SLOs on the COR, while
  other colleges either did not respond or have not
  decided and
• Whereas, Housing SLOs in some other public domain
  entity can still allow students, community
  members, and accrediting agencies to review and
  track progress of SLOs at community colleges
• Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California
  Community Colleges encourage local senates to
  publish Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) in any
  appropriate public domain entity such as the
  course outline of record, database, webpage, etc.
  

20
True or False?

• Title 5 mandates that Student Learning Outcomes
  must be on an individual instructors syllabus.
• True
• False

21
ACCJC

• Must SLOs appear in the faculty members course
  syllabi?
• Yes. The answer to this question appears at the
  beginning of this article, in the quotation from
  Standard II.A.6. The Commission acknowledges
  that the use of the words learning objectives
  in this standard appears to be vestigial language
  from the 1994 Standards. The Commission changed
  the words learning objectives to student
  learning outcomes in January, 2010.

22
True or False?

• There is a standard definition of critical
  thinking in both the Ed. Code and Title 5 that
  can be applied to all courses and programs.
• A. True
• B. False

23
True or False?

• Formative and summative assessments are mutually
  exclusive.
• A. True
• B. False

24
Value/Valor

• What do we value in a course of study?
• How do we demonstrate this?
• When do we apply these values to learning in the
  classroom?

25
Formative and Summative

• How do we evaluate student assignments?
• Formative assessment
• Student self-assessment
• Feedback (a la Classroom
• Assessment Techniques)
• Summative assessment
• Unit tests
• Essays and papers
• Midterms
• Final exams
• Capstone projects

26
Resistance is Futile The Taxa Are Here

• Bloom (1956)
• Wiggins and McTighe (1996)
• Fink (2003)

27
The Promised Land (a.k.a Critical Thinking)

• Critical thinking skills are those diverse
  cognitive processes and associated attitudes
  critical to intelligent action in diverse
  situations and fields that can be improved by
  instruction or conscious effort.
• Nancy Glock, 1987

28
Thank You!

• Please fill out the evaluations.
• The presentations will be posted on the ASCCC
  website under the Curriculum Institute within 2
  weeks.