WALK, RUN, JUMP, LEAP: MOVING ESSENTIAL LEARNING OUTCOMES CENTER STAGEAAC&U MeetingNew OrleansFebruary 23-25, 2012General Education and Assessment: New Contexts, New Cultures

Maureen Andrade, Kathie Debenham, KD TaylorUtah Valley University

Utah Valley University - At A Glance• Member of LEAP Campus Action Network• Participant in 2011 Shared Futures Project: Global

Learning and Social Responsibility/GE • USHE State GE Task Force/Lumina Tuning Project• Carnegie Community Engaged designation• Surviving and implementing recent GE re-visioning

Overview: Moving ELOs Center Stage• Common Challenges to ELO Assessment• UVU’s Four-Step Approach

• Identify simplified language to market the Essential Learning Outcomes (ELOs)

• Refine communication processes• Provide professional development opportunities• Assess progress

• Attendee Strategies and Solutions

Challenges – Recognize any of these?• Stakeholders unfamiliar with ELOs• Course syllabi do not list ELOs• Course syllabi list different ELOs for the same course• Lack of knowledge about the GE program• Faculty connected to disciplines, not GE• Large number of adjuncts teaching GE courses• Coordination of core themes, ELOs, GEOs & responsibilities for assessment• Accreditation recommendation

• Publish outcomes• Develop consistent assessment practices• Improve learning

UVUs Essential Learning Outcomes (ELOs)

• Integrated and Applied Learning• Engaged Learning• Integrated Learning• Applied Learning

• Intellectual and Practical Skills Foundation• Communication• Quantitative Reasoning

• Qualitative Reasoning: Critical, Analytical, and Creative Thinking• Information Literacy• Technical Literacy

• People of Integrity• Ethical Reasoning and

Understanding• Personal and Social Responsibility

• Professional Competency• Ability to Adapt and Change• Teamwork• Problem Formation and Solution

• Stewards of Place• Local Community • Global Community• Interdependence Among

Communities

• Knowledge Foundation• Core and Distribution

Identify GE program connection to ELOs

ELOs- Detailed and Complex

• Integrated and Applied Learning

• Intellectual and Practical Skills Foundation

• Qualitative Reasoning: Critical, Analytical, and Creative Thinking

• People of Integrity• Professional Competency• Stewards of Place• Knowledge Foundation

GEOs-Transparent and Memorable

• Communication• Critical and Creative

Thinking• Community• Core & Distribution

courses

Community• A student will

demonstrate the ability to be personally and socially responsible through collaboration, ethical reasoning and understanding, and stewardship of local, national, and global communities.

GOAL: Integrate Elements of Overlap in ELOs

• Engaged, Integrative, and Applied Learning• Collaborate successfully on projects

• Work effectively in teams

• Professional Competency• Work in groups using intellectual tools to assess and improve the group’s effectiveness

All included under Community in re-thinking how to simplify GE outcomes

GOAL: Enable Autonomy

Community. Students will be personally and socially responsible.

This can include•Working effectively in groups•Having a sense of moral obligation and ethical awareness•Cultivating an appreciation and respect for diversity

Programs may want to add specific outcomes related to•Stewardship of local, national, and global communities.•The resolution of governance, political, economic, educational, health, human rights and/or environmental issues

Departments determine definitions and relevance

•Content maintained

•Reorganization•Simplification

Approval ProcessesNeeded

Core Themes and ELOs

REFINE COMMUNICATION PROCESSES

Exploring the ELOs Student

focus groups

Omnibus survey

Lunch n’ learn

Marketing & Public Relations

Internal Community

• Presentations • Web site “ads” with links• Catalog• Syllabi• Digital signage• Magazines & brochures• Banners• Student orientation• Student handbook• Student newspaper• Forums• Social media• Common course shell for all GE

courses in Canvas• Fall Faculty Convocation

External Community

• Speakers & panel discussions with civic leaders

• Website• News media• Magazines & brochures• Career & internship fair • Recruitment events • Billboards• Work with VP Engagement

with Chambers of Commerce, business clubs & associations

• Social media

Use Common GE Course Shell in Canvas

Why

• Provide an identity for GE courses in LMS

• Students see the continuity of GE outcomes related to the ELOs

• To facilitate assessment via significant assignments required in shell

• Provide access to uploading assignments in eportfolio

How

• Summer Seminar for pilot group of faculty from departments teaching gateway courses

• Identify necessary common elements

• Provide significant faculty freedom for elements not needing to be common

Employee Incentives

• Informed campus citizen• Ability to assist students• Professional development

opportunities• Special events and

recognitions• Guilt

Student Incentives

• Degree • Career preparation &

marketability• Personal achievement • Knowledge of

educational & workforce expectations

• Responsible citizenship

Course Objectives & Syllabi

COMET: Curriculum Online Management Enterprise Tool• Inclusion of ELOs in course/program design

• List the ELO(s) that each GE course meets• 257 GE courses• Must be added manually• Needs approvals by Curriculum Committee and Academic Affairs

Council

SYLLABI• Prepare syllabus addendum explaining ELOs for all classes• Require course syllabus to include information about ELOs and

how course meets specific ELO(s).• Suggest ways to summarize ELO(s) in e-portfolio

ELO Catalog Markers

ENGL 2010 ** CC

Intermediate Writing-- Humanities/Social Sciences

3:3:0 Su, F, Sp

• Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1010 or ENGL 101H with a grade of C- or better.

• Essential Learning Outcome(s): Intellectual and Practical Skills Foundation, Knowledge Foundation,Professional Competency

Emphasizes academic inquiry and research in thehumanities and social sciences. Explores issues from multiple perspectives. Teaches careful reasoning, argumentation, and rhetorical awareness of purpose, audience, and genre. Focuses on critically evaluating,

effectively integrating, and properly documentingsources. In addition to major essay assignments, may

include in-class writing and collaboration, an annotatedbibliography, oral presentations, and portfolios.

Code Description IA Integrative and Applied Learning IP Intellectual and Practical Skills Foundation PI People of Integrity PC Professional Competency SP Stewards of Place KF Knowledge Foundation

General Education Distribution Course CC - English Composition

ELO DescriptionPossible abbreviated codes shown below

PROVIDE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Faculty Center• Learning Circles • New faculty orientation• Summer training

• Canvas GE course shell• ELOs• Assessment

• Signature/significant assignment• Rubrics

ASSESS PROGRESS

Assessment of Strategies• Institutional Research data

• Community response• Employer response• Faculty response

• Social media feedback• Student survey on ELOs done as baseline Fall 2012 in

Omnibus Survey; follow up two years later

Achievement of ELOs• Embedded assessments in GE and major courses• First year experience course• First year seminar• Capstone courses• E-portfolios

E-Portfolio Project• GE Committee Learning Circle• Zubizarreta, J. The

learning portfolio, 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

• Guiding Questions• Why do want an e-portfolio

system?• What key elements are we

seeking from a system/platform?

• What are the portfolio contents and design?

• Stakeholder Meetings• Education and Business• Grants for Engaged

Learning• Institute for Professional

Engagement• Courses

• English 1010• History 1700• Digital Media

Current Directions

• Student experiences with e-portfolios and ELOs

• Summer faculty training• Canvas GE course template• Signature assignments• Rubrics

• Fall pilots • Student support kiosks• Data collection• Continued campus

conversations

ATTENDEE STRATEGIES AND SOLUTIONSDiscussion & Wrap Up

Resources• UVU

• GE ELOs • http://www.uvu.edu/gened/

• Core Themes • http://www.uvu.edu/pba/pdf/2011-2012-pba-cycle/Core_Theme_Indicators%20with

%20Rationale.pdf• Engaged Learning Student Omnibus

• http://www.uvu.edu/iri/reports/Student%20Omnibus%20Engaged%20Learning%20Section%20-%20Fall%202009.pdf

• Service Learning• Graduating Student Survey

• http://www.uvu.edu/iri/reports/gsar.html

• AAC&U • LEAP Overview

• www.aacu.org/leap/index.cfm• LEAP Essential Learning Outcomes

• http://www.aacu.org/leap/vision.cfm• Principles of Excellence

• http://www.aacu.org/leap/principles_of_excellence.cfm• High Impact Practices

• http://www.aacu.org/leap/hip.cfmce.cfm