Developing Measurable Learning Goals

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Developing Measurable Learning Goals

• The Assessment Council
• Lehman College

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Assessment Council Membership

• John Cirace (Eco) john.cirace_at_lehman.cuny.edu
• Nancy Dubetz (ECCE) nancy.dubetz_at_lehman.cuny.edu
• Robert Farrell (Lib) robert.farrell_at_lehman.cuny.e
  du
• Thomas Ihde (LL) thomas.ihde_at_lehman.cuny.edu
• Marisol Jimenez (ISSP) marisol.jimenez_at_lehman.cuny
  .edu
• Robin Kunstler (NSS) robin.kunstler_at_lehman.cuny.ed
  u
• Carl Mazza (SWK) carl.mazza_at_lehman.cuny.edu
• Vincent Prohaska (Psych) vincent.prohaska_at_lehman.c
  uny.edu
• Robyn Spencer (History) robyn.spencer_at_lehman.cuny.
  edu
• Mary Tesoro (NUR) mary.tesoro_at_lehman.cuny.edu
• Minda Tessler (Psych) minda.tessler_at_lehman.cuny.ed
  u
• Janette Tilley (Mus) janette.tilley_at_lehman.cuny.ed
  u
• Esther Wilder (Soc) esther.wilder_at_lehman.cuny.edu
• Committee Chair
• Administrative Advisors
• Susanne Tumelty (IRPA) susanne.tumelty_at_lehman.cuny
  .edu
• Robert Whittaker (AP) robert.whittaker_at_lehman.cuny
  .edu

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Committee Charge

• Develop written strategic plan for campus
  assessment of student learning.
• Includes
• defining key terms for campus assessment
  practices
• articulation of reporting procedures
• articulation of responsible parties
• recommendations for departmental processes for
  assessing
• learning goals
• recommendations on incentives for faculty
  participation in assessment
• Develop and promote a culture of assessment on
  campus
• Act in an advisory capacity to Provost Deans
  Council for developing campus assessment goals
• Act in an advisory capacity to departments and
  individual faculty to facilitate assessment
  efforts
• Work with campus Assessment Coordinator to create
  cross-departmental assessment teams and
  partnerships.

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The Work of the Assessment Council
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Middle States Recommendations
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Timeline
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The Assessment of Student Learning
What was actually learned?
What is the student expected to learn?
What learning opportunities were provided?
How can learning be improved?
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Assessment as a Four-Step Continuous Cycle
Source  Suskie 2004 4.
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Good Learning Assessment Practices

• Give useful information that is accurate to the
  extent possible
• Are ethically fair to students and instructors
• Are practical, realistic and cost-effective
• Are systematic (not one-shot deals)
• Yield results that are put to good use and shared
  with interested parties, including students

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The Program Assessment Process
Developing Measurable Learning Goals WHY?
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Establishing Learning Goals

• Assessment begins not with creating or
  implementing tests, assignments, or other
  assessment tools but by first deciding on your
  goals  what you want your students to learn
  (Suskie 2004 73).
• The identification of intended educational
  (student learning) outcomes is a very important
  first step in the assessment process.  In many
  cases, it is abbreviated in nature so that we
  can get on with assessment.  To shorten this
  step seriously undermines the use of results from
  the assessment activities. . . (Nichols and
  Nichols 2005 83).

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Establishing Learning Goals

• Effective goals are the destination rather than
  the path taken to get therethe end rather than
  the means, the outcome rather than the process
  (Suskie 2004 74).

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Describing Student Learning Outcomes
Knowledge Skills (e.g., thinking, performance,
interpersonal) Attitudes Dispositions Habits
of Mind
Simply stated, statements of intended
educational (student learning) outcomes describe
what students will think (affective), know
(cognitive), or do (behavioral/performance) when
they have completed a degree program (Nichols
and Nichols 2005 74).
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The Program Assessment Process
Developing Measurable Learning GoalsHOW?
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Developing Effective Learning Goals 

• Important meet student/employer needs
• Focus on the end, not the means
• Clear no fuzzy terms (e.g., think critically)
• Observable what graduates should be able to DO
• Concrete action words

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Developing Effective Learning Goals 

• When you develop learning goals, aim for ones
  that are neither too broad nor too specific and
  use concrete action words
• Too vague Students will demonstrate quantitative
  literacy skills.
• Too specific Students will be able to calculate
  a mean for a class grade distribution.
• Better Students will be able to understand and
  apply measures of central tendency.

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Resources for Identifying Program/Department
Learning Goals 

• Faculty input
• Ask faculty, including part-time faculty, to
  anonymously submit a certain number of
  educational learning goals for the
  program/department (key strategy recommended by
  Nichols and Nichols 2005)
• In many instances the outcomes identified by
  faculty will be concerning their individual
  courses rather than the program overall.  In some
  cases, it may be necessary to identify similar
  outcomes put forward (representing several
  courses) and to generalize to the program level
  based on the faculty input (Nichols and Nichols
  2005).

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Resources for Identifying Program/Department
Learning Goals, continued

• Standards espoused by professional organizations
  and accreditation organizations
• Course syllabi (ultimately, the course goals will
  make up the program/department goals)
• Capstone experiences
• Existing core assignments or assessments
• Assessment plans
• Surveys or interviews of prospective employers
• Admission criteria for academic programs your
  student pursue after program completion

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Steps to Articulating Program/Departmental Goals 
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• An example from the Social Work Department

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Strategy WorkshopCollaborating to Develop
Program/Major Learning Goals
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Workshop Summary
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Another Strategy for Building Consensus

1. Using the aforementioned strategies, create a
   list of all possible learning goals for a program
   or department.
2. Distribute the list to faculty members, and ask
   each to check off those goals that s/he thinks
   should be the key goals for the program.
3. Collect the lists, tally the checkmarks, and
   share the results with the faculty.
4. Strike those goals with no votes (a group may
   also agree to strike those goals with just one or
   two votes, too).

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Another Strategy for Building Consensus

• 5. Sometimes a few goals will emerge as the top
  vote-getters, and the group will agree to focus
  on them, ending the process.
• 6. If consensus cannot be reached after the
  first round, redistribute the (possibly
  abbreviated) list with the initial results noted,
  and ask the faculty to vote again.
• 7. Periodically rotate and assess 3-5 key
  learning outcomes for which faculty consensus
  indicates importance.

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Challenges in the Preparation of Statements of
Student Learning Outcomes 

• Achieving faculty ownership
• Achieving faculty consensus
• Limiting the number of statements
• Backing into educational (and student learning)
  outcomes from means of assessment
• Revising statements of intended educational
  (student learning) outcomes

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Evaluating Program/Departmental Statements of
Learning Outcomes 

• Consistent with Colleges mission statement
• (http//www.lehman.cuny.edu/lehman/about/mission.h
  tml)
• Reasonable given the ability of students
• Clear and accomplishment is ascertainable
• Singular
• Rotate when validated

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Once learning goals are developed, what next?

• Curriculum Mapping
• Choosing an Assessment Strategy
• Developing and Identifying Assessment Instruments
  that Correspond to Learning Goals
• Using Assessment Results to Improve Student
  Learning

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Bibliography  

• Nichols, James O. and Karen W. Nichols.  2005.  A
  Road Map for Improvement of Student Learning and
  Support Services Through Assessment.  New York 
  Agathon Press.
• Suskie, Linda.  2004.  Assessing Student
  Learning.  SF, CA Anker Publishing Co, Inc.