Teaching Resources

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Why we write Student Learning Outcomes (SLO):  The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools has added SLO’s at the degree program level as another requirement for accreditation stating, “[A]n institution is expected ‘to identify expected outcomes for its educational programs and its administrative and educational support services; assess whether it achieves these outcomes; and provide evidence of improvement based on analysis of those results.’”
    

2. Defining a Student Learning Outcome: A Student Learning Outcome is a statement describing what students will know or be able to do as a result of their learning experiences (Otto, 2007).[1]  When using SLO’s, the primary question shifts from “What will I teach?” to “What will the students learn?”
    

3. Another definition: “[SLO’s] are the specific measurable goals and results that are expected subsequent to a learning experience.  These outcomes may involve knowledge (cognitive), skills (behavioral), or attitudes (affective behavior) that display evidence that learning has occurred, at a specified level of competency, as a result of a course or program.  Learning outcomes are clear and assessable statements that define what a student is able to DO at the completion of a course or program.  Learning outcomes provide a focus and a standard for the classroom or the student services program.” (Assessing Student Learning in Higher Education, http://online.bakersfieldcollege.edu/courseassessment/)
    

4. Important things to remember when writing SLO’s:  First, address the observable outcome you expect to see in the student.  Second, be sure to use active verbs, because they are easier to measure.  For example, the word understand is not measurable, replace it with a verb that describes what students will be doing.  Third, include an assessable expectation.  You must have clearly defined expectations related to the criteria of the outcome.  Fourth, share your outcomes with other faculty to make sure they are clear and easily understood.  Finally, don’t be afraid to modify your SLO’s as you learn. 
    

5. After writing SLO’s ask yourself these questions:

   1. Is this outcome learner-centered, not teacher-centered?

   2. Does this outcome describe what a student should know or be able to do after completing the course?

   3. Is this learning outcome stated in clear and specific terms?

   4. How will you measure whether a student has achieved this learning outcome? (Otto, 2007).

• MTSU Resources

• LTITC Library Resources

Fink, L. Dee. Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses. Indianapolis: St. Martin's Press, 2003.
Weimer, Maryellen. Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice. Indianapolis: St. Martin's Press, 2002.
Elbaum, McIntryr, & Smith.  Essential Elements: Prepare, Design, and Teach Your Online Course. Wis: Atwood Pub, 2002.

• Key Literature

Bloom, Benjamin. Taxonomy of Educational Objective, Handbook 1: Cognitive Domain. New York: Addison Wesley, 1956. (applications of Bloom's work also easily found via search engine)
Gronlund, Norman E. Writing Instructional objectives for Teaching and Assessment, 7th Ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003.

• Online Resources

Student Learning Outcomes Workshop:
www.chea.org/Chronicle/vol5/no2/Chron-vol5-no2.pdf

Writing Student Learning Outcomes for Your Program
www.grossmont.edu/student_learning_outcomes/writing_slos.asp

Instructions for Writing Student Learning Outcomes
http://tinyurl.com/28g54n

Assessing Student Learning Outcomes
http://depts.washington.edu/grading/slo/assessing.html

Assessing Student Learning in Higher Education
http://online.bakersfieldcollege.edu/courseassessment/Section_3_SLOs/Section3_1.htm

Teaching Goals Inventory, a tool, originally created by Patricia Cross and Thomas Angelo in Classroom Assessment Techniques, contains 53 prompts to help instructors identify their goals for a particular course. This on-line version offers rapid self-scoring and data comparisons across goal areas and disciplines. The book Classroom Assessment Techniques is available from the LTITC library; read a review.