Assessing Learning Outcomes

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Assessing Learning Outcomes

• Learning as an Integrated Process

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• If you dont know where youre going, how will
  you know if or when youve arrived?

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Learning Goals

• You will explain the differences between learning
  as informative and transformative learning.
• You will describe key neurological elements of
  the learning process
• You will recall one experience of integrated,
  transformative learning
• You will describe the relationship between
  disorientation and cognitive shifts, including
  both thinking and feeling.

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Learning Goals

• You will identify elements of your Idaho State
  Universitys mission and translate them into
  learning goals
• You will write integrated learning outcomes
• You will begin to define assessment of learning
  outcomes.

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Traditional approaches to learning

• Information acquisition
• Information repetition
• (Occasionally, depending on the discipline)
  application of concepts or facts learned to
  developing insight into or solving problems
• This is known as informative learning

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Brain Based Learning

• The way the brain learns is complex
• Information is experienced as cognition, emotion
  and occasionally behavior
• Information is conveyed chemically and
  neurologically
• Most of what is learned is far below the level
  of consciousness
• The number of neurological connections that
  transmit information in the brain is beyond
  comprehension.

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BBL

• The brain is constantly organizing information
  about our bodies ( How am I feeling?Why am I
  itching?)
• Our environment ( whats that noise, smell,
  movement???)
• Our relationships ( What does the professor want
  from me? What does my partner want from me?)

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BBL

• And occasionally about academic knowledge ( What
  do I need to know for the test?)
• All of these learning and organizing processes
  occur simultaneously and interact with each
  other. (How can I concentrate on this test if I
  am feeling sick?)

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The purpose of organisms is to organize and what
human beings organize is meaning.Attributed to
William Perry by Sharon Daloz Parks, Big
Questions, Worthy Dreams, SF Jossey Bass,
2000,p.19
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Our educational practice has emphasized
information transfer without a great deal of
thought given to the meaning, pertinence or
application of the information in the context of
a students life.LR, 2004, p.10
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If we do not integrate information into the
context of students lives in some meaningful
way, they will not remember it, know why they
need to know it, or be able to use it. This
occurs because the brain requires context to
integration information and turn it into
knowledge.
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WHAT A WASTE OF TIME AND ENERGY!!!
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To support todays learning outcomes, the focus
of education must shift from information transfer
(informative learning) to identity development or
transformative learning.LR, 2004, p.10
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Learning, development and identity formation can
no longer be considered as separate from each
other they are interactive and shape each other
as they evolve.LR,2004, p.8
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• WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR ASSESSMENT????
• Assessment must be wholistic, looking at multiple
  aspects of learning.
• Assessment should be authentic- embedded in
  realistic aspects of a students life.

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• Assessment may include taking tests, but should
  not be limited to that.
• Assessment is most valid when it describes
  cognitive, emotional, interpersonal and meaning
  making capacities.

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Learning/Development/Identity

• Integrated learning happens most frequently when
  we have accessed new information and then have
  time to think about it.
• Remember one time when you had this type of
  integrated learning experience.

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L/D/I

• What did you learn?
• Who else was involved?
• Why do you remember?
• Did the learning change your ideas about who you
  were?

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Transformative Learning

• Transformative learning shifts the epistemic
  perspective, and expands or shifts the learners
  capacity to understand or interpret information.
• The learner understands previously held knowledge
  in a new way.

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Instruction Paradigm

• Provide Instruction- teacher centered
• Transfer knowledge in bits and bytes
• Linear acquisition and repetition of information
• Improve access for underserved students
• Guiding Metaphor Mind as Storehouse

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Learning Paradigm

• Produce learning
• Elicit student discovery and construction of
  knowledge
• Holistic, Big Picture learning
• Creation of learning environments
• Improve success- for all students
• Guiding Metaphor Riding a bicycle interactive,
  evolving skills and knowledge

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Do terrorists really hate America because we
are free? Or are they angry because we have
exploited the resources of their countries? Or
because, from their point of view, we hold
decadent values?
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The same set of facts can be interpreted from an
infinite number of perspectivesThere is a
difference between accuracy and truth.If we are
all accurate, we may find many truths.
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Were the Africans transported to North America in
the 17th century slaves or prisoners of war? Can
terrorism be considered the war of the poor and
war, the terrorism of the rich.Perspective
shapes interpretation.
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When we teach about the Holocaust, does the
information mean different things to Jewish
students than to Christian students?Do
indigenous students have a totally different
meaning for that word?
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When we teach about the Middle East, do Muslim
students or Palestinian students react
differently than African students, Jewish,
Israeli or American students?
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Transformative learning

• Helps a person become aware of his or her own
  perspective
• Teaches a person to shift perspective at will
• Disrupts a persons emotional stability
• May shift a persons sense of who she or he is in
  the world ( identity).

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Transformative learning

• Rocks your world
• Undermines everything you thought was true
• Makes you wonder who and what you can trust

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Transformative Learning

• Helps you create and recreate yourself
• This self-authorship is both empowering and
  frightening.
• Marcia Baxter Magolda, Creating Contexts for
  Learning and Self- Authorship, 1999

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Transformative Learning

• Makes perspective shifting and critical thinking
  possible
• Helps students learn how to resolve conflicts
• Supports the achievement of the goals implied in
  most institutional mission statements, e.g
  humanitarianism, civic engagement, interpersonal
  competence

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Transformative Learning

• Demands that we learn to shift from a personal to
  a global perspective
• Forces us to realize that when we shift
  perspective, we also experience an emotional
  shift and a shift in meaning.

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Transformative Learning

• Forces us to realize that Descartes may have been
  accurate, but his view was limited.
• I think/feel/do and therefore I am.
• I am who I am in this context at this time but
  things continue to evolve

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This may all be true- or accurate- but it isnt
amenable to standard forms of assessment
Repeating or writing about it doesnt tell you
much.so how can we knowa) if anything has been
learned?b) what has been learned?
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Examples of Learning Outcomes

• Humanitarianism
• Outcome dimension Understanding and appreciation
  of human differences
• Definition the ability to respond respectfully
  and empathically to differences of culture,
  beliefs, values.
• Verbsdemonstrate, discuss,explain
• Context intergroup dialogues, service learning,
  identity group programs or clubs,study abroad
• All of this information is adapted from the LR
  website on the NASPA site.

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Humanitarianism ( cont.)

• Outcome dimension Social responsibility
• Definition The capacity to care and provide for
  the common good (environment, community, society)
  through actions or refraining from actions that
  affect the common welfare
• Verbs defend,support, practice
• Context sustainability clubs/courses critical
  review of campus policies, calendars

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Learning OutcomeStatement1. Students who
participate in __________ will engage in
discussions with students whose personal views
are different from their own2. Students who
participate in __________ will be able to
articulate both their own viewpoint and the
viewpoint of another with whom they disagree.3.
Students who participate in __________ will
demonstrate reponsibility by__________.
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Persistence Achievement

• Outcome dimensionManage college experience to
  achieve success
• Definition Ability to succeed through knowledge
  and use of services on campus
• VerbsIdentify, use, explain, request
• Context Learning center, bridge programs,
  disability support, childcare svces

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Learning Outcome Statement

• Students who participate in ________ will be able
  to locate and use services that help them
  to____________.

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What Learning Outcomes Do You Expect For Your
Students?
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Sources for Learning Outcomes

• Campus Mission
• College Mission
• General Education Mission or Outcome Statement
• Student Affairs Mission

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Resources1. www.NASPA.org (LR button)2.
Metropolitan State University, Denver, COLarry
Worster3. Univ of Colorado, PuebloZav Dadabhoy
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