LEARNING OUTCOMES COUNCIL
April 9, 2015 Minutes
Approved – April 30, 2015
Co-Chairs:
Present:
Absent:
Recorder:
Berta Cuaron, Wendy Nelson, Marty Furch, Susan Miller
Michelle Barton, Berta Cuaron, April Cunningham, Sarah De Simone, Michael Deal,
Kelly Falcone, Erin Feld, Marty Furch, John Harland, Cheryl Kearse, Naomi Lowe,
Susan Miller, Norma Miyamoto, Michael Mufson, Wendy Nelson, Mollie Smith
Melinda Carrillo, Robert Deegan, Michael Gilkey, Adrian Gonzales, Mollie Smith,
Brian Stockert, Rocco Versaci
Marti Snyder
The meeting was called to order by LOC Co-Chair Marty Furch at 2:05 p.m.
1. Approve Minutes 4/9/2015
MSC Feld, Mufson.
2. Announcements
April provided an update to the evaluation of Dashboard feedback discussion from the previous week.
The two options for evaluation are to evaluate Dashboard as used in individual courses or separating
Dashboard as its own separate course. The current default is that Dashboard is located in each individual
course, which is beneficial to faculty, in that the scores are readily available to them. However, the data
may be more accessible to LOC if the data is in its own individual place. Students could be auto enrolled
in Dashboard through Blackboard. If LOC could streamline suggestions for how LOC would like to obtain
the data, then those requests can be forwarded to determine the best way to evaluate Dashboard.
Michael mentioned that there will be a Cultural Synergy Festival on campus May 7-9. There will be
musical and dance ensembles and the premiere performances of “The Water Speaks”. In addition, there
will be a tribute to John Valdez, founder of the Chicano Studies department, who will be retiring after 30
years of services. More information about the event can be found on www.palomarperforms.com.
Aaron Holmes is this year’s classified employee of the year.
3. Feedback Discussion
Marty reviewed the SLOAC Review Process reporting needs, outlining proposed content and scheduling
for both facilitator and LOC review reports. Discussion points for the Facilitator Report included the
following:

Proposed Content
- Review and ensure SLOs read as SLOs and not objectives.
- Identify course/program SLOs to be assessed for academic year.
- Identify scheduled results analyses and action plans.
- Give explanations for any missing data.
- Provide department meeting minutes of SLOAC conversations and planning.
- Ensure that curriculum mapping is confirmed. Course to program/program to course is
not happening on a consistent basis because the database field can be skipped.
-
Strengthen the relationship between course SLOs and program SLOs.

Proposed Schedule
- Provide initial report using a predesigned planning tool in the beginning of the fall
semester.
- Provide an update to the planning tool in the beginning of the spring semester.
- Provide update to the planning tool of what has been done at the end of the spring
semester.
- SLO Coordinators will review the planning tools submitted by the facilitators, which will
then be reviewed by LOC subgroups in the spring semester.

Marty reviewed sample forms to consider for use for the report. She also mentioned the
options of using electronic forms, TracDat, or online surveys to capture reporting data. Other
suggestions included the following:


Use Google Drive forms which can be loaded directly into a spreadsheet.
Present less as a “report” and more as a “reporting tool” for SLO facilitators.
The Council agreed that the best option would be to determine if the reporting data can be captured in
TracDat in order to keep all of the data centralized. Facilitators would be tasked with making sure all of
the data is input into TracDat so that accurate reports can be generated. TracDat allows for the
uploading of documents, but cannot create custom forms. However, additional tabs can be added, so a
“Facilitator” tab can be created so facilitators can add specific details/notes and upload documents and
keep departments on target.
Discussion points for the LOC Review Report included the following:

Proposed Content
- Notify facilitators of any updated information on SLOs or TracDat.
- Provide feedback on language of SLOs.
- Review the assessment timeline. If an SLO has not been assessed for a prolonged
timeframe, determine the reason.
- Review for accuracy of curriculum mapping.
- Review for correctness of information for program review to align with IPC’s request.
- Review for proper use of TracDat.
The goal of this reporting is to develop a systematic, formal way to provide feedback/direction to
faculty regarding quality of SLOs and proper use of the database.
A suggestion was made that department facilitators, rather than SLO coordinators, begin these
conversations. Currently, there are materials on the LOC website to assist facilitators in becoming
experts in creating SLOs.

Proposed Schedule
- SLO coordinators will review SLOs at the beginning of the fall semester and LOC
workgroups will review SLOs at the beginning of the spring semester.
A suggestion was made to review all SLOs on a three-year cycle instead of two, which would allow
for the most engagement. An additional suggestion was made for all SLOs to be reviewed when
courses are reviewed.
LOC Reporting for the ACCJC annual report
Marty mentioned that it will be helpful to restructure the SLO reporting process to better align with the
reporting needs for the ACCJC annual report. The college may need to consider providing more guidance
to the narrative section of the PRP. Additionally, it will be helpful to determine how to assess student
learning that occurs outside of the classroom, for example, through events such as Political Economy
Days and Unity in Diversity, as well as to determine how to document department meetings and
informal discussions regarding SLOs.
If anyone has any comments regarding the discussions or feedback for the workgroup, please contact
Marty Furch.
4. GE Assessment Timeline
Wendy mentioned that there were previous considerations to scale down the number of GE/ILOs.
However, it was decided that no GE/ILOs will be eliminated. Assessment of Knowledge of Human
Cultures and the Physical and Natural World will not be assessed until we complete the comprehensive
review, which will be in two years.
Wendy distributed rubrics for Civic Engagement, Ethical Reasoning, Integrative Learning, and Inquiry and
Analysis and asked that the Council review the rubrics, then report back with any feedback about which
GE/ILO would be ideal to assess next. The Council should consider whether or not to begin repeating
assessments that have been previously completed.
Wendy suggested that the Council reconsider assessing digital literacy next semester using NorthStar..
This would allow additional time to develop the rubric for Integrative learning. Academic Technology is
working with IS to figure out a way to run NorthStar Digital Literacy Assessment through eServices for
easy assessment. Currently, we only need to access the website and use the free online version of the
assessment, which is available on http://digitalliteracyassessment.org. The Council agreed to pursue
Digital Literacy for fall 2015 and assess Integrative Learning to spring 2106, consensus.
Michelle suggested that we research the best way to assess integrative learning and consider if there is a
way to develop an assessment or approach to an assessment that would evaluate the entire category of
Integrative Learning and Personal and Social Responsibility without having to change the way
assessments are done for each GE/ILO.
Cheryl mentioned the current lack of student engagement in SLOs. Discussion points for student
engagement included the following:
 Participation in Student Affairs events by setting up an SLO information booth to encourage
SLO awareness.
 Get students engaged outside of the classrooms. Survey students if they have participated in
Political Economy Days/Unity in Diversity.


Political Economy Days already collects student evaluations. LOC can consider adding a
field/question to the evaluation such as “Did you experience some connections between the
presentation topics and current coursework topics?”
Have students submit a portfolio that documents coursework for integrative learning.
Michael Mufson asked for a streamlined way to get part-time faculty into TracDat so that full-time
faculty can assign SLO results. The Council agreed that the process can be simplified and will streamline
the process.
5. Qualitative Assessment Methods
This item will be addressed at the next meeting.
6. Incorporating Dept. Projects and SLOs
This item will be addressed at the next meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 3:36 p.m.
Next Meeting: April 30, 2015
2:00-3:30 p.m.
AA 140