Hi I’m Dr. SLO, the SLO Coordinator and I can answer your questions about student learning outcomes and assessment work at our college. I’m Maxwell Smart. My dean forwarded and email to me about some SLO things my department is supposed to be doing. I didn’t really read the email. But we did our SLO stuff last year. You don’t need to bother us anymore about it. What department did you say you were in? Covert Affairs. I didn’t know we had such a department. Yes. And we are not having this conversation. You should know that the faculty in our department participated in the convocation last April and we typed in some stuff into the ECMS system. That’s great. You also must have a course assessment plan in your department, right? That is on a need to know basis only. I heard the college already submitted the self-study for our accreditation visit. So now you can leave our faculty alone. Even though the accreditation self-study is completed, we should not stop working on our SLOACs and PLOACs. More acronyms? You are worse than the CIA. We don’t have time for this. Lives are at stake. Lives are at stake? Yes. But if I told you anymore, I’d have to do away with you. Maybe I can show you how simple it is to focus on outcomes and assessment work in your department. What is a major course in your department? And what is one student learning outcome for this course? Our most popular courses are SPY GADGETRY and IMPOSSIBLE ESCAPES. The main SLO for our SPY GADGETRY course is demonstrate conversion of household items into weapons. And how do students show you they have learned to do this? Students used to write a research paper on different gadgets. Now we give students a gadget, such as a watch, and they have one minute to turn it into a slingshot. Why did you change this assignment? Students were turning in stellar final research papers, but they were failing the basic assignments in the next course in the sequence. This was in our IMPOSSIBLE ESCAPES course. What did you discuss amongst your faculty about this problem? Faculty discussed that students were unable to actually make any weapons. They could not escape out of a paper bag. We discussed how students had to show us what they could DO with gadgets and not just write about them hypothetically. We then changed the final assignment to an actual demonstration. What has happened since you changed this? More students who are successful on the final assignment in SPY GADGETRY class are doing better in the IMPOSSIBLE ESCAPES class. Our institutional researcher gave us this data. We even know which students need more help manipulating gadgetry and which students just pray and try to “look cool” while operating their gadgets. See, you have already done a SLOAC. A what? A student learning outcomes and assessment cycle. Well, is that really all there is to it? Yes, you identified the outcome in your course, assessed it through a course-embedded assessment, and discovered that you still needed to know more about whether students were actually learning and achieving the outcome. Then you reflected upon your assessment results and enhanced your course. You even conducted another type of course-embedded assessment Now you have “closed the loop”. Great. That is simple enough. Now will this SLO stuff go away? NO. If I fill out another form for you right now, will it go away? NO. If I tell you “I heart assessment”, will you go away. NO. I know someone who knows someone. I could have assessment “taken care of”. NO. This work is ongoing. It is about teaching and learning and excellence. It is about our students and they are NOT going away. Do you think your students know what is expected of them in class and what their course learning outcomes are? Most students probably just want to catch the criminal and get famous. Or look really “cool”. And drive really fast cars. Shouldn’t students know exactly what they are expected to learn in each course? That information is classified and on a need to know basis. Students need to know. Yes, you might be on to something. Here is a handout and a coversheet. Tomorrow is opening day. Discuss these questions with your faculty at your department meeting. This doesn’t seem like a mission impossible. Our faculty might enjoy this dialogue with these questions. “How are we informing students about course outcomes?” “What is our department’s plan for course assessment this year?” Great. Have your discussion, fill out the form, and send it to me after your meeting. And then you’ll go away. NO. Your mission, should you choose to accept it is to focus on outcomes and assessment work to promote excellence in teaching and learning at our college. This mission or message will NOT self destruct. Ever! Thanks for your help Dr. SLO. I’ll make sure our department makes this mission possible.