What is a Student Learning Outcome?

A Learning Outcome is a statement about the knowledge, skills, attitudes and abilities a student is expected to have upon successful completion of an academic activity. A Learning Outcome is expressed using active verbs and is stated in terms that make it measurable.

What is a Course-Level Student Learning Outcome Assessment?

A Course-Level Student Learning Outcome (SLO) is a statement about the knowledge, skills, attitudes and abilities a student is expected to have upon successful completion of the course. An SLO starts with the phrase, “Upon successful completion of this course a student should be able to …”

A Course-Level SLO statement meets the following four criteria. To evaluate the effectiveness of an SLO statement use the Rubric on Evaluating Learning Outcomes in Appendix B.

An SLO states the knowledge, skills, attitudes or abilities a student is expected to have upon successful completion of the course.

An SLO is expressed using active verbs.

An SLO is stated in terms that make it measurable.

An SLO supports one of the Institutional Student Learning Outcomes.

What is the difference between a Course-Level Student Learning Outcome and a measurable course objective?

As a rule of thumb, course student learning outcomes are broad whereas objectives are specific. As a result, a course will typically have more course objectives than SLOs. Often an SLO is comprised of what the student can do as the result of combining together several course objectives. That is, a cluster of objectives might support a single SLO. However, for some courses it may be appropriate for an SLO to be the same as one of the course objectives.

What is the point of assessing Course-Level Student Learning Outcomes when students are already assigned course grades?

Grades measure the overall performance by an individual student in a certain course. It is very difficult to trace back the learning of specific skills from a general grade. For example, if a student gets a “B” in the course, it is not possible (without checking the student records) to determine which topics within the course were grasped well by the student. Faculty members teaching various sections of a particular course could vary in their combinations of these factors to produce grades. Grades provide a very succinct way to summarize how the student fared overall in a course but are not able to illustrate the students’ level of understanding and acquisition of specific skills. Grades are student-specific. In contrast, SLOs are meant to be skill-specific. Instead of how many students received ‘A’s and ‘B’s in the course, how many of them were able to demonstrate a specific skill central to the course? SLOs focus on how students perform in particular skills that are taught in a course instead of the overall performance. Moreover, they are intended to determine what students would get out of a course regardless of which section they selected or which faculty member they had.

Should SLOs be included on the Syllabus?

Yes. Each SLO that is being assessed in a course must be included on the course syllabus. It is not necessary for the SLO assessment method to be included on the syllabus.

How are SLOs Reported?

https://apps.powerapps.com/play/e/default-a7326af5-8edb-4cf3-9690-671203163fbc/a/140b6998-2ec4-43d0-aacd-45b8b68c981a?tenantId=a7326af5-8edb-4cf3-9690-671203163fbc&hint=661ddd6d-f174-4bde-ae36-3687be762c04&sourcetime=1698361169589

Student Learning Outcomes Assessment Cycle

Develop, review, or revise Course-Level Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

Develop, review, or revise an assessment method for each SLO

Assess the SLOs

Analyze the assessment results

Apply the results to improve outcomes and then assess the effectiveness of these improvements

Repeat, repeat, repeat…