Sustaining Proficiency – Don’t Fall into the Pit!

Sustaining Proficiency – Don’t Fall into the Pit

In generating reports to ACCJC, information is pulled directly from your Program Review. Below is a list of 8pitfalls to avoid as you complete the SLO tables in Program Review.

  1. Does your Program SLO title indicate the name of degree or certificate?

When pulling information from Program Review, if the language doesn’t match up with CurriUNET, then a determination can’t be made as to whether all degrees and certificates are being accounted for.Any changes in Program level SLO’s must go through Curriculum.
For example, Accounting Technician Certificate of Achievement, International Trade-Marketing Certificate of Specialization, or American Sign Language Interpreting AA, would be suitable titles to use.

  1. Are all your “Active” courses listed in your Program Review?

Make sure you update your Course SLO table to include any new courses, such as Honors courses. Check to ensure that the language (course name & SLO’s) are the same in CurriUNET as in the Program Review.

  1. Have you provided specific detailson your Means of Assessment?

Details are needed to show authentic assessments that reflect the SLO.
For example, for a chemistry SLO: “Students are said to meet this SLO if they answered 1 out of 2 multiple choice questions dealing with the topic of chemical bonding on the common final exam. One question requires students to identify polar covalent bonding and the other regarding distinguishing between ionic and covalent bond. Sample questions:

  • Which of the following has a polar covalent bond?
  • Which of the following statement(s) is true regarding Rb and Cl?”
  1. Have you included your Criteria for Success?

Include the criteria that students must meet to be considered as “achieving SLO” andinclude expectations of how many students you expect to do so.

For example, for a Nursing course, “Students wereevaluatedthroughcompletion of acase studyrelated toHeart Failure.Students weregiven a patientscenario andwere asked toanswer 7questionsrelated toheart failure,knowledge ofLasixadministration,side effects andrelevant labs,and knowledgeof how ACEinhibitors assistin treating heartfailure. It wasexpected that75% ofstudents wouldpass thisassessment.Studentspassed theassessment ifthey received 5points out of 7.Each questionwas worth 1point.”

  1. Have you indicated the number of students who
    took the assessment and number who passed? And the semester date?

This information is essential when mapping the outcome of a course assessment to a Program or Institution SLO. Without it, courses cannot be used to map.

For example, in fall 2011 cycle, 47 students were assessed and 37 students met the SLO criteria for success, or 78% of students met the SLO assessment. This exceeded the expectation that 75% of students would meet SLO.

  1. Have you indicated the number of Cycles complete?

As you add more cycles to your SLO tables, be sure to update the number of Cycles completed.

  1. Did you avoid copying and pasting the same
    “Use of Results” language throughout?

The “Use of Results” column should reflect discussion stemming from the analysis of the SLO assessment. For example: “More students than expected passed. However, given the assessment, percentages should have been higher. It appears that some students think that xxx demands as much detail, dimension and nuance as yyy. It is not clear to students that zzzz envelope a mixture of styles and forms. Therefore xxxxx is understood quite well. Faculty met in Fall 2012 and decided that the instructor(s) will state SLO’s for the lessons more clearly, reinforcing the lecture SLO.

Meeting minutes should be saved as evidence of dialog.

  1. Have you identified any gaps in student success?

Have you changed the SLO’s as a result of the assessment? Are there teaching techniques you have discussed that might improve student learning? Have you modified the rubrics? Why?

SLO CoordinatorsFall 2012