1. Personal Use of your SLOs Collin College, August 2009 Matthew Ware Coulter, PhD Professor of History Kathleen Fenton, PhD Quality Enhancement, Outcomes & Curriculum

2. Ways to Use Your Results 1. Resource Allocation Back up a budget request 2. Teaching & Learning Changing teaching methods, faculty distributions, curriculum, emphasis 3. Improving Assessment Revise your process to better align with your intended outcomes to give you evidence Source: Palomba & Banta, 1999

3. Data-based Decisions  This is the stage where “closing the loop” begins.  This is where the Think- Act- Assess returns to Think.

4. Think---- What does our evidence tell us?  What are the strengths?  What are the weaknesses? --by foundational knowledge or skill, by sequence

5. ACT---  Select a continuous improvement action that aligns with the outcome  Examples are: curricular changes, resource allocation (use of time, technology and equipment), changes in instructional delivery, course re- sequencing

6. Assess---  What does success look like?  You need documented evidence showing improvement in diagnosed problem area(s).

7. Analyze Your Evidence  Unpack the results from your SLOs ---which are fundemental ---which are sequenced  Look for funnel patterns in success ---which “travel together” in mastery  Focus on your hunches  Look at subgroups—pass out notecards or a survey to learn how much students are working, what background they have in your subject area, or other variables you think may determine success such as outside reading

8. Linking Results to Improvement Assessment Technique Findings/ Results Actions Taken Evidence of Improvement Sample of History #1 writing assignment: Identify what’s important --issue cited --social & psychological experience contrasted to legal focus. --facts used to support argument. Students not identifying social & psychologic al impact of separate but equal law  Prompt reviewed  In-class writing response and critique opportunity developed & tried prior to writing #1  Incorporate blue/brown eye class exercise Check sample of Student Score changes After introduction of each exercise Source: D.L. Sundre, SACS Institute on Quality Enhancement, July 2008

9. Linking Results to Improvement Assessment Technique Findings/ Results Actions Taken Evidence of Improvement History written assignment #1 samples scored using rubric Students not identifying social & psychological impact of separate but equal law  Incorporate a class discussion with short student writing and peer critique opportunities developed Check sample of Student scores associated with critique responses Source: D.L. Sundre, SACS Institute on Quality Enhancement, July 2008

10. Linking Results to Improvement Assessment Technique Findings/ Results Actions Taken Evidence of Improvement Psychology Apprentice- ship Report & associated scoring rubric Breadth of student experiences not captured; students engaged in variety of activities, not a single project  Developed new instrument to evaluate the Apprenticeship Experience  Students complete an Apprenticeship Evaluation, including checklist of skills and Student Activity Summary sheet for review with the Advisor  Review process aligned with program goals & activities  Assessment results portray breadth & depth of student experiences.  Baseline data captured.

11. Lessons learned from Fall Dept Meetings  Start with the “End in mind”  Be Specific:  Align assessment & learning activities to outcomes.  Can you link a change in the outcome to the action taken?

12. Exercise from Fall Dept meetings Draft #1 “Spot the Problems” Assessment Technique Findings/ Results Actions Taken Evidence of Improvement Common Discipline measure Students did not understand basic questions. Identify the specific questions/ topics that were problematic.  We will tell the faculty to make them aware of the problem questions.  What instructional action(s) will faculty take to increase probability of improving student outcomes for the targeted questions? We will look at average student performance on the Common Measure. An aggregate score will not inform your instructional plans for the target questions.

13. Example from Fall Dept meetings Draft #2 Assessment Technique Findings/ Results Actions Taken Evidence of Improvement Common Discipline measure 80% of students did not understand basic questions # 7, 9 & 12  We will develop study question exercises related to the problem questions 7, 9 & 12. We will look at student performance on the individual basic questions of interest on the Common Measure. Spring 2009 outcome: [Note: We won’t just look at the total score.]

14. Close the Loop Scenario Fall 2010 Assessment Technique Findings/ Results Actions Taken Evidence of Improvement Common Discipline measure Spr 2008 Benchmark: 80% of students did not understand basic questions.  Spr 2009: 60% of students did not understand basic questions #7, 9, 10 & 17. Fall 2009: We will develop study question exercises related to the targeted basic questions.  Fall 2010: We will identify & focus on two (#7 & 9) of the most basic questions. We will introduce concepts in the questions and give students an opportunity to apply the concepts 3 times prior to assessing the target questions. We will look at student performance on the basic questions #7 & 9 on the Common Measure. Spring 2009 outcome: [Note: We won’t just look at the total score.]

15. “Maxing your SLOs” - Exercise Think of a recent change you’ve made……… Assessment Technique Findings/ Results Actions Taken Evidence of Improvement 3. How will you measure the learning outcome you hope to get ? 2. Why did you make the change? What had you observed? 1.What change did you make? 4. Did you get improvement in the students’ performance? No  Try a new plan Yes, but not sufficient  tweak the plan & continue Yes  set a new goal

16. Your Examples & Questions  Midpoint observations from your Continuous Improvement Action Plans for 2008-09

17. Thank you  Call anytime for technical help with assessment, analysis or action plans  Kathleen Fenton, Ext. 3737