UC Davis is up for re-accreditation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), and as part of that process, departments and programs need to provide a list of their student learning outcomes and how they plan to assess them. Ideally, each department will submit three to five learning outcomes for the WASC review.
While at first it may seem daunting to craft student learning outcomes for your entire program or department, you should know you don’t have to start from scratch. Chances are you already have learning objectives–even if they’re not called such–on your departmental web site or on course syllabi. Such statements frequently start with such phrases as “Students will be able to. . .” or “Graduates from our program can. . .”
If you’re still stuck, go to your favorite search engine and plug in the name of your discipline and “student learning outcomes.” Many universities have posted their student learning outcomes—as well as the ways they assess those outcomes—online.
As you research and develop your student learning outcomes, you may see the terms “learning objectives” and “learning outcomes” used interchangeably. At the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, we typically use “learning objectives” to refer to the goals you’re setting forth to students and “learning outcomes” to designate the actual results of your teaching. WASC seems to use the term “learning outcomes” to refer to both the goals (objectives) and results.
If you do a web search for student learning outcomes, you’ll find a tremendous wealth of resources online—so many resources, in fact, that it’s overwhelming. We’re here to simplify the process for you by sharing a few key concepts.
And, of course—because it’s the CETL’s mission—we’re happy to have the opportunity to chat with you, virtually or in person, about learning objectives and outcomes. We hope you take what you learn here and apply it not only to your department’s crafting of learning objectives and assessment, but also to your individual courses.
Part II: Crafting student learning outcomes
Coming soon — Part III: Assessing student learning outcomes
The CETL is in 1350 Surge III.
