Overview

What is Learning Outcomes Assessment?
Learning Outcomes Assessment (LOA) is a systematic process that results in improved student learning. The process involves determining what you want your students to know or be able to do when they graduate, collecting evidence of the extent to which they know or are able to do those things, interpreting that evidence and then using the information to make changes that will improve their learning. It sounds so simple, doesn’t it? It isn’t, but it can be a powerful process that will lead to improvements in how faculty teach and what students learn.

The learning outcomes assessment process begins by determining what we want students to know or do when they graduate from the program and developing a set of statements to reflect those expectations. These statements go by various names, such as learning goals, learning objectives, learning outcomes, program goals, program objectives, program outcomes, etc. The name is less important than the substance. These statements, let’s call them learning objectives, are most useful when they are written clearly, from the students perspective, and in language that will allow you to measure them. Thus, “The program will provide students with an understanding of the research process” will not work as well as “Students who graduate from this program will be able to effectively conduct a research study.”

When you are reasonably satisfied with your learning objectives (they don’t have to be set in stone!), your next step is to determine what courses in the curriculum address your objectives in some way. This is called a curriculum map. Once you have mapped your objectives to your courses, you are ready to determine how you will know whether or not your students have met your objectives. You’ll do this by, for example, measuring their performance on a project or collecting their perceptions on a survey. Using this information, you’ll be able to determine if changes are needed to improve their learning, and hopefully where the changes are needed.

The next few pages describe each step in greater detail and will provide you an example of the process that you can follow. Throughout the tutorial you will be able to answer quiz questions to gauge your own understanding. You can also ask questions of Schreyer Institute consultants and/or submit your work for review at any time.