• University Policy
• Academic Program Review (APACE)
• Board of Regents
• SACS requirements
• Professional Accreditation
• Right thing to do

How--examples to follow.

• GSU General Education Outcomes
• Upper Division Adaptations of General Education Outcomes
• General Education outcomes for core courses--Geography
• Aligning courses and learning outcomes--Computer Science, Geology
• Aligning courses and learning outcomes (CS)
• Definition of weighted scores for program matrix
• Course Outcomes
• Assessing outcomes
• Interpreting and using evaluation results

Background Information

• Purpose of Outcomes
• Goals
• Types of Learning Outcomes

Handbooks and Manuals

• Cal State--Fresno
• Texas A&M
• University of Wisconsin
• Virginia Commonwealth University

Examples

• Robinson College of Business
• Departmental Examples

Helpful Links

• Understanding by Design: Power Point (Wiggins and McTighe)

Goals Types of Learning Outcomes

Types of Learning Outcomes

 According to Peter Ewell, a well-known national assessment researcher,

A student learning outcome…is…defined in terms of the particular levels of knowledge, skills and abilities that a student has attained at the end (or as a result) of his or her engagement in a particular set of collegiate experiences.

For example, knowledge outcomes typically include the major or discipline content and modes of inquiry.  Skills outcomes are those required for effective practice in the discipline or in future employment and can include critical thinking, problem solving, and quantitative literacy. The Georgia Board of Regents (Section 2.03.05, Academic Affairs Handbook) also requires student attitudes to be included in learning outcomes. Attitudes might include areas such as students' openness to new ideas, acceptance of diversity, or commitment to life-long learning.

 Knowledge, skills, and values/attitudes, need to be specified for three types of learning outcomes: general education outcomes, course outcomes, and program outcomes. 

 General education outcomes are outcomes that we expect all undergraduates to achieve in the course of their academic studies.  General education outcomes are initiated in the core curriculum and are carried through to the major as discipline-specific outcomes.  The specified Analytical, Critical Thinking, Communication, and Collaborative/Group skills are not decontextualized.  Rather, they are skills that students exhibit as outcomes by having applied them in the context of disciplinary needs.

 Course outcomes are outcomes that result from individual courses.  These outcomes are typically the knowledge, skills, and values/attitudes that students are expected to acquire in a particular course. Because certain course outcomes are indicated for all sections of a course, instructors can know teh knowledge, skills and values/attitudes that students should have acquired prior to subsequent courses. Course outcomes also often include certain general education outcomes, although not all courses will include all—or even any—general education outcomes.

 Program outcomes are those that graduates of programs are expected to know and be able to do at the conclusion of their course of study in a specific program.  Program outcomes are framed outcomes in terms of the program as a whole, not in terms of individual courses, particular experiences, or required parts. E.g. What habits of mind do we want our MBA graduates to bring with themselves to the workplace?