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Outcomes Assessment

Outcomes assessment is a process that takes place at the course, program, and institutional (GEO) levels. Assessments at each of these levels should be in alignment, supporting one another and working to further the development of our students. 

Course Outcomes
Results from the assessment of courses are best achieved when the process has had multiple contiguous iterations each informing the next. As such, departments are encouraged to assess each course at least once every four years and preferably in alignment with the four-year curricular review cycle. Additionally, those courses impacting the most students may warrant more frequent assessment, including:

• Gateway Courses
• Key courses in a sequence of courses
• General Education Courses
• Courses central to a program

Program Outcomes
Those areas with degrees and certificates need to create program-level SLOs. Departments should focus on those key competencies that they expect students to know and master within their discipline as the program-level SLO. Examples of program-level SLOs could include:

• Utilize the SLO data from a capstone course as the program-level outcome (short-term)
• Compile and analyze longitudinal data on the success of transfer students within the discipline (long-term)

General Education Outcomes
Mt. SAC has five areas of general education: (A) Communication in the English Language, (B) The Physical Universe and Life, (C) Arts and Humanities, (D) Social, Political, and Economic Institutions, and (E) Lifelong Understanding and Self-Development. GEOs are statements about the skills, knowledge, and perspectives acquired by students who enroll in courses within each of the aforementioned five areas.

 

Create a campus culture where SLOs are understood and valued and where assessment functions as a resource leading to improved instruction, curricula, programs and/or services. (Outcomes Committee, 2011)