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Program mapping and learning outcomes
The document outlines a program mapping and learning outcomes assessment presentation, led by Kate Kryder and Ciji Heiser, emphasizing key definitions, competencies, and the importance of mapping learning outcomes relative to departmental programs. It includes interactive activities for participants to identify major programs, develop competencies, and rank them by strength. The session concludes with a focus on assessing and refining learning outcomes through direct and indirect measures.
Program mapping and learning outcomes
- 1. Program Mapping & Learning Outcomes Kate Kryder& Ciji Heiser
- 2. Introduction Presenters Assessment certificate Pleasesign in! Assessment Outline Cycle
- 3. Defining key terms Elements Competencies Outcomes Programs Mapping
- 4. Mapping Why Visualize relationships Contextfor writing learning outcomes Links expectations & opportunities How do we do it? … do we map?
- 5. Activity: Part I If you can, get in groups based on your department or unit. On your handout, in the left-hand column, write down some of the major programs offered by your department. Put an “X” in the column of the competency a student would develop by participating in this program Use the definitions to guide your response
- 6. Activity: Part II What skill(s) will students develop, at depth, as a result of participating in this program? Limit X’s to 3 per program
- 7. Activity: Part III Now, the final step in our mapping process is to rank the top three (or less!) competencies. 1 = competency the student will develop the strongest as a result of participating in your program 2 = next most developed competency Etc.
- 8. What now? Continue theconversation Department/Unit Program partners Students Revisit/redraft outcomes Focus your assessment/measurement
- 9. Conclusion & ComingUp Wrap Up Survey Learning Outcomes December 16th Direct and Indirect Assessment Measures December 16th Rubrics January
Editor's Notes
- #3 Presenters (BOTH)Ciji Heiser & Kate KryderAssessment certificate (KATE)Please sign in Connection to the assessment cycle (CIJI)Phase II: Designing, Facilitating, and Implementing programs & services Program outline: We are going to answer 4 key questions in today’s presentation: (CIJI)What are outcomes?What is outcome mapping? Why are we doing it?How do we do it? Conclusion & Questions
- #4 (HANDOUT COMPETENCIES DEFINITION SHEET) Before we can start linking your programs to the competencies, we have to first define the competencies and have a common understanding of what these words mean. This is important because when we start measuring for competency development, we want to be measuring the same thing for each program over time. Keeling used a “bricks in the wall” metaphor. Essentially, we want our bricks to be made of the same material. When RHA and Leadershape talk about critical thinking – we want them to be talking about the same thing. The skill or competency of critical thinking may be developed differently in each of these programs; however, both programs are still working towards the same skill. This is vital to the success of Excellence in Action because if we all mean something different, there will be no way to understand the collective impact of Departments and all of Student Affairs on student development and learning. Mapping is an important step in the Excellence in Action initiative because through mapping we build inventories of “institution- and program-level knowledge and provide the foundation on which to design and develop the ‘bigger picture’ assessment methods…” (Maki, 2010, p. 62).Walk through elements, competencies, and outcomes handout. Programs are simply the individual opportunities you provide for students to learn and develop. Mapping, simply put, is the process of linking your programs to the competencies. Mapping: Maps, “provide a shared context for authoring outcome statements, methods to assess outcome statements, and criteria and standards by which to judge student work…” (Maki, 2010, p. 61).Maps, “also identify gaps in student learning opportunities or identify concentrations of learning outcomes” (Maki, 2010, p. 61).Maps, “help us see whether the learning priorities we collectively articulate translate into underlying coherence among our efforts” (Maki, 2010, p. 61).
- #5 Why do we do it? At the Student Affairs level “Maps provide an overview of students’ learning journey – a place to locate where educational opportunities are specifically designed to address institutional and program-level expectations” (Maki, 2010, p. 62).“A way to visualize the range of interdependent relationships that foster student learning through multiple learning opportunities is to develop curricular and co-curricular maps and inventories of educational practices” (Maki, 2010, p. 61).At a programmatic level, “More important, these representations provide a rich context for writing learning outcome statements, sentences that describe what students should be able to demonstrate, represent, or produce based on how and what they have learned…” (Maki, 2010, p. 61).“Without this preparatory work leading to the development of outcome statements, disjunctures may exist between shared expectations for student learning and actual opportunities for students to achieve these expectations along their chronologies of learning” (Maki, 2010, p. 61).How do we do it?
- #6 Activity I: In the left hand column, write down some of the major programs offered by your department. As you think about the purpose of your program, and what your program offers to students, which competencies will students have the opportunity to develop? (10 minutes)Use the definitions to guide your responsePut an X in the column of the competency developed Discussion:Okay! Take a break for a moment and let’s come back together. How many of you have more than 10 Xs for a program? How about 7? 5? Anyone just have 3?Three is the magic number because as Dr. Keeling said at his presentation and the Steering Committee has maintained, all programs are not meant to teach students all competencies. Students may gain more than one, two, or even three competencies (skills) by participating in a program, but the key is to focus on students obtaining a depth of development by participating in a given program. Students develop a breadth of experiences and skills by participating in multiple activities throughout their time at college. The next step in this activity is to help us zoom in and focus on what students gain from participating in your programs.
- #7 Activity II: For this next part, you want to answer the question: “What skill(s) will students develop, at depth, as a result of participating in this program?” For each of your programs, narrow our Xs from whatever you may currently have, to just 3 X’s. You are focusing on the top 3 competencies for each program.
- #8 Now, you need to rank, 1-3 the top competency a student will develop, the second most likely competency developed, the third most likely competency developed. As you look at where your programs, and how they map to the different competencies – what do you notice? Are there any trends?“Given that learning is a complex process, that students learn as a result of different pedagogies, and that they face different obstacles based on misunderstanding or long-held beliefs, exploring the design of our collective work enables us to identify underlying connections and avenues for learning. Additionally, exploring the design of our collective work positions us to identify how we may strengthen connections or build additional avenues for learning” (Maki, 2010, p. 65).
- #9 Take this back your departments or units and continue the conversationLook critically at what students gain from your programs Confirm with stakeholders (partners on the programs and students) Start writing outcomes around these competencies Measure Focus on the competencies for direct measuresYou can always still measure for other competencies but we are looking at depth (direct measures of student development)
- #10 “Maps of the curriculum and co-curriculum serve four main purposes in building a collective institutional commitment to assessment:They stimulate discussion about and critical reflection on collective learning priorities.They illustrate how well collective expectations align with educational practices that foster those priorities.They provide a visual representation of students’ contexts for learning that may assist faculty and staff later on when they interpret assessment results.If made available to students, they focus them on program-, department-, and institution-level expectations for learning, holding them accountable for their learning and encouraging them to develop their own learning map as they progress through their undergraduate or graduate studies. Sharing and discussing a curricular and a co-curricular map with students upon matriculation is also a way to acculturate them to learning as a building process, not a credit-counting exercise” (Maki, 2010, p. 61).