cultivating common ground: determining division-wide student learning and development outcomes
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Cultivating Common Ground: Determining Division-Wide Student Learning and Development Outcomes. Sara J. Finney Randy L. Mitchell Peter J. Swerdzewski. Overview of Program. The Call for Common Outcomes Creating a Strategy to Uncover Common Outcomes - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Cultivating Common Ground: Determining Division-Wide Student Learning and Development Outcomes
Sara J. Finney
Randy L. Mitchell
Peter J. Swerdzewski
Overview of Program
The Call for Common Outcomes Creating a Strategy to Uncover Common
Outcomes The Logistics of Implementing the Strategy The Final Product Epilogue: How this Benefits the Division
The Call for Common Outcomes Divisional history of departmental objectives based on
learning outcomes Lack of knowledge about outcomes across departments and
across the university Divisional strategic plan objective
We will identify, articulate and communicate throughout the campus community shared divisional learning outcomes for students.
Objective came from staff, not leadership Associate VPs suggested use of annual retreat for workshop
to identify common outcomes Long-term relationship between departments and CARS
Importance of common outcomes Strong desire to have something in common Opportunities for collaboration Criteria for decision-making, planning, and
budgeting Opportunities for assessment Increased accountability for use of resources Increased credibility for the division regarding its
contribution to student learning and development, internally and externally
Creating a Strategy to Uncover Common Outcomes The need for division-wide communications
It was important that all programs heard about all other programs
Full-day retreat Important that the facilitators had the outcomes prior to
the retreat Forced divisions to think about their outcomes months prior
to retreat Essential to the discovery of common outcomes by
facilitators Aided in ordering presenters
Important that the facilitators uncovered what they believed where the common outcomes prior to the retreat
The Logistics of Implementing the Strategy The Outcomes Template
Instructions Examples
Preliminary examination of received outcomes by facilitators
Preliminary Examination of Outcomes by Facilitators Four assessment specialists initially reviewed all outcomes Task was to find commonly-held outcomes across programs
A commonly-held outcome does not need to be shared across all programs
Program-specific outcomes (those not shared across more than one program) were not the focus of this activity
Individual examination of outcomes to uncover commonalities Group discussion and comparison of findings
Took one full day Majority of individually-defined common outcomes were common
across reviewers Importantly, some programs had undeveloped or poorly-worded
outcomes that could not be grouped with other programs’ outcomes
The Retreat Morning Session:
Each program was given five minutes to discuss their outcomes
Outcomes were projected behind them Commonalities were mentioned as the morning session
progressed Over Lunch:
Assessment specialists “uncovered” the commonalities Made some minor adjustments to our preliminary list of
common outcomes Afternoon Session:
List of common outcomes and programs that support them shared with group and discussed
Final list of agreed-upon common outcomes
Uncovering Three Broad Types of Outcomes Learning outcomes Attitudinal / developmental outcomes Behavioral outcomes
Common Outcomes and Programs that Support Them Created document with all programs’
outcomes Grouped common-sounding outcomes from
various programs Named each general outcome
An Example of Shared Behavioral Outcomes Decrease in maladaptive behaviors Civic engagement
Behavioral Outcomes
Epilogue: How These Common Outcomes Benefit the Division Identification of outcomes was the first objective in the divisional
strategic plan to be completed Divisional directors meet regularly to operationalize the
outcomes Departments are using the common outcomes to develop
objectives Outcomes will be published on the division’s website, distributed
to all division staff, and shared with campus public relations for dissemination in the fall
Outcomes have been utilized as a part of new employee orientation along with vision, mission, and values
Outcomes have been used in planning and decision making