EL CAMINO COLLEGE
Office of the Vice President – Academic Affairs
NOTES – 24 MARCH 2008
Assessment of Learning Committee (ALC)
Attendees: L. Kjeseth, J. Simon, R. Bergeman, C. Striepe, H. Storms, A. Spor, D. Thompson, D.
Maruyama, D. Grogan
I. Assessment of Student Learning Week
The Assessment of Student Learning Week will be in the same format as last fall. There will be
two fairs and a mini conference. Assistance will be available at the fair to guide faculty through
the forms, and the assessment cycle in general. The assessment fair at CEC will be held on April
22 from 12:00-2:00 p.m., which will include a Q&A session.
II. New Contract Language - SLOs
The proposed changes to the faculty contract: Appendix J – Self-Evaluation Report – Change
“improvement of instruction” to “improvement of instruction and student learning outcomes”
in items I and IV. Faculty will be asked to self-evaluate themselves on improvement of
instruction and SLOs.
J. Simon asked the committee to consider the new language and asked if anyone could think of
any reason that the faculty may be upset. D. Thompson and C. Gold suggested keeping faculty’s
attention on the fact that it’s self-evaluation and thus should not be seen as limiting academic
freedom, or particularly punitive. J. Simon suggested that the language is very open to
interpretation—“student learning outcomes” could be taken as SLOs or as an English phrase
with a particular meaning. Thus, the new language did not seem particularly worrisome.
III. Setting Goals and Benchmarks
-- SLO goals will be needed for the self-study introduction of the accreditation report. It should
answer.what has been done, what is being done now, and where it go in the future.
-- Three goals for continued progress are: (1) creating a database of all SLO assessment reports;
(2) incorporating assessments of student learning into both program and curriculum review; and
(3) establishing MOUs regarding SLO assessments, adjunct faculty and performance evaluation.
-- By Spring 2009, each program will have a plan for assessment for the next several semesters.
-- A draft plan for the accreditation report to include more information on future plans in the area
of SLOs and assessments is needed by April 15.
-- D. Thompson agreed to review and edit what will be included in the accreditation report.