Identifying (and Assessing?) Student Learning Outcomes

Seth Pollack, PhDProfessor of Service Learning

California State University, Monterey Bay

Talloires Declaration (2005) “Universities have the responsibility to foster in faculty, staff and

students a sense of social responsibility and a commitment to the social good.”

“We carry a unique obligation to listen, understand and contribute to social transformation and development.”

“The university should use the processes of education and research to respond to, serve and strengthen its communities for local and global citizenship.”

SO… What might this look like in terms of student learning?

Knowledge? Skills? Attitudes?

What would you point to as evidence? How to assess this?

Session Goals Further clarify student learning outcomes related

to: Critical Citizenship? Social Justice? Global Citizenship? Social Responsiveness? Leadership for advocacy for the human condition?

Look at one example: CSU Monterey Bay Develop learning outcomes relevant to your

own programs and institutional contexts. Begin to look at assessment issues (?)

Research Teaching &Learning

Relationship to the Core Missions of Higher Education

Social ResponsivenessKnowledge Exchange

Societal Service

Civic Engagement

Social Justice

Service

The Academic Disciplines“First Tier” Peer-Reviewed Journals

http://www.ces4health.info/

Linking Civic Engagement, Diversity and Learning Outcomes

One way to integrate diversity and civic learning is to move from the language of service to the language of justice and social responsibility. A second is to link both diversity and civic work to the learning outcomes we want to cultivate in students. What do students need to know to function effectively and responsibly in a stratified world? [my emphasis]

Caryn McTighe Musil, Vice President, Association of American Colleges and Universities.

The CSU Monterey Bay Context Founded in 1995 on

former army base, Fort Ord. (currently 4,500 students)

21st campus of CSU system (500,000 students)

$4 billion county agricultural industry (90% of nation’s lettuce!)

Inequality: “Pebble Beach” and farm labor camps; Steinbeck country

CSU Monterey Bay:A National leader in Service Learning

One of only four public universities with a service learning requirement.

Recipient of the inaugural “White House President’s Award for Community Service in Higher Education.” (2006)

One of twenty universities listed by US News and World Report (2004-2010) as having an outstanding service learning program

One of the first universities to receive the new Carnegie Classification in “Community Engagement” (2007).

Service Learning at CSUMB:Uniting Four Streams of Innovation

in Higher Education

Civic Engagement

Active, applied, project-based and experiential learning

Explicit focus on issues of diversity and multiculturalism

Outcomes-Based Education

CSUMB’s Service Learning Requirement

Two-step service learning requirement for ALL students:

1) Lower Division SL RequirementOne of 13 lower division “University Learning

Requirements:” SL 200S: Introduction to Service in Multicultural Communities

2) Upper Division SL RequirementRequired learning outcome in each major

BUS 303S: Community Economic Development CST 361S: Technology Tutors Etc.

50% of students are in the community each academic year.

Lower Division SL Requirement: Community Participation

Purpose: to foster the development of self-reflective, culturally aware and responsive community participants through reciprocal service and learning.

Outcomes:1. Demonstrate critical self-reflection of one’s own assumptions,

stereotypes and social group identities.2. Demonstrate intercultural communication skills.3. Demonstrate knowledge of the demographics, socio-cultural

dynamics and assets of a specific local community.4. Examine the root causes of a community issue (systemic

inequity). 5. Demonstrate reciprocity and responsiveness in service work with

community.

CSUMB Upper Division Service Learning Outcomes

Civic EngagementStudents will deepen their understanding of personal and professional social responsibility, and be able to apply the knowledge & skills of their field to enhance the social, cultural and civic life of our communities.

Social JusticeStudents will analyze and apply theories and practices from their field to understand how individuals and social systems promote both equitable and inequitable practices in society.

Multicultural Community BuildingStudents will learn from and work responsively and inclusively with diverse individuals, groups and organizations to build just and equitable communities.

Developing a Service Learning Course…

Not just doing service to master the academic content; but doing service to develop students’ civic competencies: Compassion, justice, diversity and social

responsibility.

Step One: Social Justice Issues are explicitly, purposefully present in the course: Meta-Question – “The BIG Question” Service / Social Justice Learning Outcomes

It all starts with The “BIG QUESTION”

NEW civic literacy and social justice learning objectives:

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Academic learning objectives:

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The “BIG QUESTION” about social

responsibility and social justice.

Meta-Question Examples

COMPUTER SCIENCE: From wiring schools for the internet to…How does the “digital divide” accentuate historic inequities?

MUSEUM STUDIES: From building exhibits for museums to… How do we as a community determine what is valued and deemed worthy of being collected?

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE: From creating interpretive materials for parks to… Who has access to, and makes use of state parks and open space, and who doesn’t?

University of the Western Cape“The orientation of students towards engaging with the

needs of patients, through hospital and clinic rotations, has strengthened the School’s focus on socially responsible, patient-centred practice.” UWC School of Pharmacy Program Review, 2008

Ripped from the headlines…

What does “patient-centredcare” mean in this context?

How do we train pharmacists to be “socially responsible and patient-centred” in today’s complex health care environment?

Clearly, beyond “picking, licking, and sticking.”

Turning Rights on Paper into Lived Reality

…“Catch-22: An AIDS patient shows her anti-retroviral medication at the Tapologo hospice in Rustenburg. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some AIDS patients stop taking their medication to keep their CD4 count below 200 –the level that qualifies them for a disability grant.” (p. 9, Thursday, 23 October, 2008).

University of the Western Cape School of Pharmacy

From mastering pharmaceutics, pharmacology, and pharmacy practice learning outcomes…

…to delivering “socially responsible, patient-centred pharmacy care” in the context of today’s public health care reality

The BIG Question: What do our graduates need to know, be able to do, and

care about in order to deliver “socially responsible, patient-centred pharmacy care” to ALL our community members?

Assignment

Reflect on your own institutional and program context

Identify learning outcomes that reflect student learning related to civic engagement / social responsibility / social justice / knowledge exchange?

Use words / concepts that work for you!