Service area outcomes (SAO’s) are the equivalent, measurable outcomes that student services areas such as the library, work towards meeting.
SLO proficiency, as defined by the accreditation commission, is essential to accreditation eligibility and candidacy. From a faculty perspective, the SLO assessment process provides concrete information on what is working in the classroom (and what isn't), and provides a formal process for determining how to improve student learning. Learning outcome assessment provides departments the opportunity to continuously improve.
An SLO (student learning outcome) indicates a particular and measurable skill or knowledge base students must acquire in a coure. Learning objectives are the topics that faculty cover in each course. There are numerous learning objectives for each course, but just a few SLO's.
Faculty members, when reviewing or developing new course curriculum, create or modify SLO statements. These learning statements stem from the course outline of record, and specifically the course objectives. Faculty take the most integral course concepts, and use them to generate SLO’s, which are specific, measurable and involve analysis, synthesis and potentially the development of knowledge. Faculty are advised to consult Bloom’s taxonomy when generating learning statements.
SLO statements are contained in the course outline of record, housed in Curricunet. PLO statements are found in the course catalog.
Faculty members develop an assessment tool, which can consist of multiple choice questions, an essay exam, term paper, lab activity, class presentation, or any other method deemed appropriate by the department. During the course of the semester, all instructors administer the assessment, and individual student results are entered into our enterprise resource planning system (ELumen). SLO’s are assessed on an ongoing basis, every Fall and Spring. Every four years, the semester before program review is due, programs conduct a “course report” for each of their courses. The course report is a long form document which analyzes student performance on each SLO for the previous four years. Because SLO assessment data is entered for every student every semester, faculty authors have a wealth of disaggregated data to analyze in the course report. Authors identify trends in success, and examine demographic variables as they relate to student mastery of SLO’s. Faculty then reflect on their successes and the ways they can improve their courses to foster higher SLO success rates.
The department should meet to discuss any changes to course SLO's. Once agreed upon, changes are made through the curriculum review process. Faculty can access their course outlines of record through Curriqunet. There, they can change, add or delete SLO statements. Once the changes are approved by the curriculum committee, they can be implemented in the college entprise resource system (Elumen). Please consult your SLO facilitator or the SLO coordinator when undergoing this process, as they will ensure the process goes smoothly.
