Students taking charge: How student understanding in the assessment cycle can be a resource to programs.
Faculty Advisor Name
John Hathcoat
Department
Department of Graduate Psychology
Description
Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) are at the foundation of educational and program development. Outcomes guide the development and implementation of instructional material in a systematic method. Program leads, faculty, and curriculum developers meticulously revise SLOs before implementation. Each course is tied to the fulfillment of, or building towards, the SLOs using techniques called curriculum, or program, mapping. SLOs are often communicated to those taking part in the development and refinement process of the outcomes. Often stakeholders are involved in or informed of the development of outcomes for the program. However, one group of stakeholders is often disregarded in the assessment process: students enrolled in higher education programs are frequently overlooked as stakeholders in the development and refinement process. A lack of understanding or insight into what is expected by educational programs might make it difficult for students to communicate or transfer knowledge outside of the classroom.
We are investigating student interpretation and understanding of SLOs from a General Education Cluster at James Madison University. General education courses are required for all students to provide a holistic educational experience. The Global Experience portion of Cluster 4 was selected for the simplicity of alignment between SLOs and courses. A few courses that fulfill the Global Experience requirement are Macroeconomics; Geography: The Global Dimension; and Introduction to African; African American and Diaspora Studies. Students who complete these courses are expected to meet the same outcomes. The study data collection was originally structured with focus groups, which students would attend as their Assessment Day requirement; however, due to tragic events in the community, Assessment Day transitioned and focus groups pivoted to online surveys. Twenty-four students who received an “A” in their Global Experience course were selected to participate in a survey administered during Assessment Day. Participants were asked if each SLO made sense and what each SLO meant to them. High achieving students were selected because these students are expected to be the most likely group to understand and communicate their understanding of the SLOs and experiences in the classrooms. Researchers analyzed student explanations of SLOs and coded them based on interpretation and understanding. Two separate researchers will code the same responses and a reliability coefficient will be calculated for their agreement. Preliminary results indicate that students have difficulty interpreting SLOs and, for SLOs that are understood, students struggle to communicate their understanding and the applications, or transferability, of the SLOs presented within the survey.
Students taking charge: How student understanding in the assessment cycle can be a resource to programs.
Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) are at the foundation of educational and program development. Outcomes guide the development and implementation of instructional material in a systematic method. Program leads, faculty, and curriculum developers meticulously revise SLOs before implementation. Each course is tied to the fulfillment of, or building towards, the SLOs using techniques called curriculum, or program, mapping. SLOs are often communicated to those taking part in the development and refinement process of the outcomes. Often stakeholders are involved in or informed of the development of outcomes for the program. However, one group of stakeholders is often disregarded in the assessment process: students enrolled in higher education programs are frequently overlooked as stakeholders in the development and refinement process. A lack of understanding or insight into what is expected by educational programs might make it difficult for students to communicate or transfer knowledge outside of the classroom.
We are investigating student interpretation and understanding of SLOs from a General Education Cluster at James Madison University. General education courses are required for all students to provide a holistic educational experience. The Global Experience portion of Cluster 4 was selected for the simplicity of alignment between SLOs and courses. A few courses that fulfill the Global Experience requirement are Macroeconomics; Geography: The Global Dimension; and Introduction to African; African American and Diaspora Studies. Students who complete these courses are expected to meet the same outcomes. The study data collection was originally structured with focus groups, which students would attend as their Assessment Day requirement; however, due to tragic events in the community, Assessment Day transitioned and focus groups pivoted to online surveys. Twenty-four students who received an “A” in their Global Experience course were selected to participate in a survey administered during Assessment Day. Participants were asked if each SLO made sense and what each SLO meant to them. High achieving students were selected because these students are expected to be the most likely group to understand and communicate their understanding of the SLOs and experiences in the classrooms. Researchers analyzed student explanations of SLOs and coded them based on interpretation and understanding. Two separate researchers will code the same responses and a reliability coefficient will be calculated for their agreement. Preliminary results indicate that students have difficulty interpreting SLOs and, for SLOs that are understood, students struggle to communicate their understanding and the applications, or transferability, of the SLOs presented within the survey.
