What the*!?# is an SLO?
Workshop on Student Learning Outcomes
For De Anza College Faculty
What do you Already Know?
Quickie Quiz on SLOs
• Answer multiple choice questions with the
best answer
• Answer the others as True or False
1. A Student Learning Outcomes
refers to student demonstration
of:
A) Knowledge
B) Skills
C) Abilities
D) Attitudes
E) All of the
Above
2. The ACCJC standards require
that SLOs are written and
assessed in:
A) Courses
B) Programs
C) Degrees and Certificates
D) Student Services and the Library
E) All of the above
3. Course SLOs should cover:
A) Discipline Knowledge
B) Discipline Skills
C) Discipline values and beliefs
D) Answers A and B only
E) All of the above
True or False
4. An SLO is really the same thing as
an objective in our course
True or False
5. According the the Academic Senate
and the ACCJC, writing SLOs and
designing assessments for them is a
faculty responsibility
True or False
6. Faculty members can write different
SLOs for the same course
SLO 101
“This is an evolution of best teaching
practices, not a revolution”
Lars Kjeseth, El Camino College
What is an SLO?
•
•
•
•
Knowledge
Skills
Abilities
Attitudes
that a student can demonstrate by the end of a
course, program, certificate or degree
SLOs: The Big Picture
• Requires HIGHER LEVEL thinking skills
• Synthesizes many discreet skills
• Requires students to APPLY what they’ve
learned
• Results in a product
• Product must be evaluated or assessed by
faculty
Must be written for
•
•
•
•
Courses
Programs, including GE and vocational
Degrees and Certificates
Library and Student Services
Who?
• Faculty, as discipline experts, must write
SLOs
Why?
• Covering material doesn’t guarantee that
students learn it
• Must demonstrate it
• Transparency is key
• Practice is also key
Where Should SLOs live?
• Course Outline of Record?
• Addendum to COR?
• Somewhere else?
• According to ACCJC, objectives must be
in syllabus
• Good idea if SLOs are also
Remember SLOs: The Big
Picture
• Requires HIGHER LEVEL thinking skills
• Synthesizes many discreet skills
• Requires students to APPLY what they’ve
learned
• Results in a product
• Product must be evaluated or assessed by
faculty
Objective: Nuts and Bolts
• Describes small, discreet skills
• Requires basic thinking skills
• Do not necessarily result in a product
SLO versus Objective Activity
• Answer the questions on the handout
• Hint: Some of the examples are neither an
SLO or objective
Sample SLOs
Course Outline Activity
• Look at your CORs
• Which objectives listed may actually
be outcomes?
• Which could be combined to become
an outcome?
• Which are objectives?
Writing SLOs Activity
• Look at Guide to Writing SLOs
• Access course outlines through ECMS
• Use the Bloom’s Taxonomy charts to write SLOs
for both your classes, either creating new ones or
revising what’s on your COR
• Afterwards, use the checklist to see how you’ve
done
• Officially document SLOs on the Documentation
Form
Let’s Get to Work and Write
Some SLOs!
What the *&%#! Is Course
Embedded Assessment?
Assessing Course SLOs
Course-Embedded Assessment:
Expanded Grading
• Uses assignments produced in class –
papers, projects, portfolios, presentations
• Grades them with rubrics or other
explicitly stated criteria shared with
students in advance!
• Results analyzed, resulting in changes to
improve student learning and teaching
How is this different from
grading?
• Assignment analyzed for how it informs
you about the SLO
• Is not the cumulative grade of the course
• May only use parts of the assignment
• Focus is on what it reveals about teaching
and learning, not how individual students
performed
Think “Sampling”
• Not every assignment in a class is used
• But enough evidence must be gathered and
assessed to get a good sampling of students
and their work
Choose An Assignment
• Look at the course SLOs you wrote earlier
• Choose a major assignment you already give
in that class that you feel addresses the
SLOs
• If you only give tests, choose specific
questions that require higher level thinking
skills and address the SLO
So What’s a Rubric?
• A very detailed grading scale
for one assignment
• A descriptor of each level of
achievement
Why Rubrics Rock
• Great for students
• Doesn’t impinge on your
academic freedom
• May make your teaching life easier
• Caveat: Doesn’t work for multiple choice
exams
How do Rubrics Work?
• Rows: Criteria of rating
• Columns: Levels of mastery
• Beginner
• Developed
• Accomplished
• Cells: Describes work at each level of
mastery
• Build from strengths and weaknesses you’ve
seen in student work over the years
Sample Rubrics
• Grid
• Narrative with points
• Combined with Grading Sheet
Advice: Rubrics are
• As individual as instructor and
assignment
• Works in progress, always changing
• Something students should see in
advance
Activity
• Choose one particular major assignment
• Use workbook to create a rubric for it
• Share with folks at your table
Where do you go from Here?
• Next Steps