Institutional Outcomes and their Implications for

Student Learning

by

John C. Savagian History Department

Alverno Alverno C O L L E C O L L E G EG EAlverno Alverno C O L L E C O L L E G EG E

Purpose of this session

To familiarize faculty and staff at Central Piedmont Community College with Alverno College’s approach to ability based learning, with a particular focus on designing institutional outcomes. To help CPCC faculty and staff connect their institutional outcomes to disciplinary outcomes, and discuss how they relate to classroom assessments of student learning.

In 1973, new curriculum initiated based on eight institutional outcomes

or abilities

• Graduation requirements based on demonstration of outcomes rather than distribution requirements

EducationGOES BEYOND knowingto being able toDO WHAT ONE KNOWS

Writing

Speaking

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

Reading

Listening

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

Media Literacy

Quantitative Literacy

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

Computer Literacy

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

ANALYTICAL ANALYTICAL CAPABILITYCAPABILITY

PROBLEM PROBLEM SOLVING SOLVING ABILITYABILITY

VALUING IN VALUING IN DECISION DECISION MAKING MAKING

CONTEXTSCONTEXTS

EFFECTIVE SOCIAL EFFECTIVE SOCIAL INTERACTIONINTERACTION

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

EFFECTIVE EFFECTIVE CITIZENSHIPCITIZENSHIP

AESTHETIC AESTHETIC ENGAGEMENTENGAGEMENT

Abilities thatInvolve the whole person

Are teachable

Can be assessed

Transfer across settings

Are continually re-evaluated

and re-defined

An important conceptual decision in our design process:

Abilities need to be defined in a way

that our teaching of them can be

DEVELOPMENTAL

Analysis at Alverno

• Level 1 - Show observational skills

• Level 2 - Draw reasonable inferences

• Level 3 - Perceive and make relationships

• Level 4 - Analyze structure and organization

• Level 5 - Employ frameworks from major and support disciplines in order to analyze

• Level 6 - Independently employ frameworks

Abilities must be carefullyIDENTIFIED andCOMPARED to what CONTEMPORARYLIFE requires

Student Assessment-as-Learning

A process in operation at Alverno College, integral to learning, that involves observation and judgment of each student’s performance on the basis of explicit criteria, with self assessment and resulting feedback to the student.

It serves to confirm student achievement and provide feedback to the student for the improvement of learning and to the instructor for the improvement of teaching.

Assessment isINTEGRALto LEARNING

eeas . sess ( ses’) v.t.[late ME <ML <Lassess (us) ptp. ofassidere (ad + sedere)]

to sit down beside

LEARNING THAT LASTS ASSESSMENT-AS-LEARNING•Active, Independent performance•Integrative•Experiential performance in contexts

related to life roles

•Self-aware, explicitness of Reflective, • required outcomes Self assessed, • public criteria Self-regarding self assessment

cumulative nature•Developmental, Individual expansiveness

multiplicity

•Interactive, Collaborative feedback

•Situated, Transferable externalitymultiple in mode and context

The effectiveness of assessmentfor everyone involved depends on the existence of a total dynamicsystem that contributes to thecoherence and continuous improvement of the curriculum

EXPECTED EXPECTED OUTCOMESOUTCOMES

TEACHING

ASSESSMENT

STUDENT LEARNING

INSTITUTIONAL/PROGRAM ASSESSMENT

(INSTITUTION: PROGRAM::COURSE)

MISSION

EDUCATIONALEDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLESPRINCIPLES

MissionMission

Academic Administrative

Structures

Curricular Structure

Faculty/Staff Development& Responsibilities

Educational PrinciplesEducational Principles

Student Assessment

Practice

Teaching Learning Practice

Learning AssessmentLearning Assessment

Student Development of Abilities Integrated

with Content

Evaluation

Institutional/Program Assessment

There are Many Roads to Success

But if you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.

CPCC 8 Outcomes

1. Information Technology Literacy

2. Communication

3. Interpersonal

4. Thinking

5. Intrapersonal

CPCC Outcomes, continued

6. Value

7. Quantitative Literacy

8. Knowledge Application

Functions of Outcomes

• Provide direction for Learning

• Provide continuity

• Assure accountability by making teaching/learning public and explicit

• Integrate knowledge, skills, attitudes, dispositions

Educators are RESPONSIBLEfor making learning moreavailable

by ARTICULATINGOUTCOMES and making them PUBLIC

Connections to the Disciplines

• Outcomes help the student translate experience into learning

• Outcomes provide departments with standards to judge college level learning

• Outcomes help facilitate efficient, coherent, consistent assessment procedures

Discussion

Which Institutional Outcomes are most critical in your discipline?

• Identify a central skill that characterizes a practitioner in your discipline.

• Phrase the skill in terms of a discipline outcome.

Alverno examples from Chemistry Outcomes

l. Communicates effectively using language, concepts, and models of

chemistry

2. Uses the methodology of chemistry to define and solve problems individually and collaboratively

Alverno examples fromHistory Outcomes

1. Identifies culturally grounded assumptions that have influenced the perception and behavior of people in the past and identifies those that influence her own perception and behavior.

2. Identifies and critiques the theories, concepts, and assumptions that historians have used to create coherent interpretations of the past.

From Institutional Outcomes to Assessments in Courses

Assessment in a Course Example American History 1600-1900

• Second Year course

• Outcomes include:

Practice critical analysis of secondary and primary sources

Expand understanding of historical interpretation and practice making own

Demonstrate integrated communications in a variety of contexts

Assessment in a CourseAmerican History 1600-1900

• Assessment 2 (end of sixth week)

Mary Silliman’s war Practices issue analysis Engages in decision-makingDevelops her global perspectiveEngages film as art and instruction

MODES OF PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

SIMULATEDACTUAL

WRITTEN

ORAL

VISUAL

INTEGRATED

Films/VideosSlide Shows

Projects Conferences

Individual Presentations Group Discussions

Essay Reports

Case Studies Analyses

In-Baskets Literary Works

Interviews Dialogues

Teaching/Learning Design Process

“Assessment is not about testing. It’s about teaching

and learning.”

Dr. Roger Farr

Professor of Education,

Indiana University