Jeanne M. Clerc, Ed.D.Western Illinois University (WIU)

October 14, 2011

Describe the context of how health courses fit into general education requirements at Western Illinois University (WIU).

Define and differentiate among the terms: goals, objectives, and student learning outcomes.

Describe at least three reasons why a teacher would find developing student learning objectives useful.

Describe the three types of student learning outcomes and current Bloom’s taxonomic classification of cognitive objectives.

Describe the three major components of a student learning objective.

Given a student learning objective, analyze the objective for its components and appropriateness to a health course.

Discuss how student learning objectives are critical to university and course assessment initiatives.

Provided with a case study of WIU faculty developing common student learning objectives, describe what parts of the group process were done well, and what suggestions/ recommendations there are for future refinement.

As part of the general education curriculum requirement, students must take three semester hours (s.h.) in Human Health and Well Being.

This requirement may be partially met by taking at least one of the following 2 s.h. health classes:◦ HE 120: Personal Health Promotion ◦ HE 121: Human Sexuality◦ HE 123: Drug Use and Abuse

A desired future state or condition; a broad statement that is not directly measurable.◦ Example: The goal of the course HE 120, Personal

Health Promotion, is to enhance students’ physical, intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual health to pursue their college and life goals more effectively.

Objectives◦ Leads to partial accomplishment of a goal◦ Short-term, measurable specific activity

Describe the conditions. These may include parameters, timelines, and resources provided. The conditions of an objective are usually indicated by a “Given” phrase at the beginning of the objective.

Use an action verb to describe the level of knowledge, performance, or behavior desired.

Must describe the expected result or outcome in measurable and specific terms

Often used synonymously with course objectives

Differences from course objectives Course objectives are often written in the

format of a student learning outcome.

Focus on what students should know (cognitive), be able to do (skills, performance) or behaviors to exhibit at the end of the course.

Includes an expected standard of performance such as 80 percent accuracy.

SLOs ◦ Provide the framework for developing the

assessment process of student learning◦ Clarify the expectations, standards, and level of

performance expected for students. SLOs should minimize surprises for students when it

comes to assessment◦ Are used in formative and summative assessment

processes related to course and program improvement.

◦ Can help address accountability concerns in higher education with data collection, analysis, and reporting results.

SLOs- particularly helpful in courses where:◦ Multiple faculty with different perspectives teach

to assure consistency in outcomes◦ Courses are sequenced, such as two semesters of

Anatomy and Physiology◦ Students have a diverse background in

experiences, foundation knowledge, interest, and abilities

Helps to focus on the critical knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) from the nice to know.

Minimizes confusion and conflict between faculty and students if a transparent assessment process is described based on the SLOs.

Helps the faculty member determine best methods of instruction, class activities, appropriate assignments, and valid and reliable methods of assessment based on the objectives.

Cognitive Psychomotor (skill) Affective (affect, feelings, behavior)

Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation

Remember Understand (Bloom’s original

comprehension) Apply Analyze Evaluate Create (Bloom’s original synthesis)

Apply practical and essential knowledge and skills as well as utilize appropriate resources to make personal health-promoting behavior changes.◦ Methods of instruction: Lecture, case study, class

discussion, group discussion.◦ Outcome: Desired change in a student behavior

leading to a healthier lifestyle. Activity: Students choose a target behavior for the

semester and write two reflective papers (mid-term and final) describing a personal health behavior chosen for the semester, the results, and their reflections

Assessment: Rubrics for written reflective paper

Mid-term paper is both summative and formative, but focuses on formative.

Final paper is summative but also comments meant to encourage continual positive behavior change.

Diversity can be a strength, but challenging with different abilities and interests◦ Students complete a profile at the beginning of the

semester. Addressing student and college transition issues

◦ Used as an opportunity to introduce students to university resources

◦ Used as an opportunity to help students learn to study and manage time

Keeping the students engaged◦ Debates on current controversial issues or ambiguous

research◦ Relates to the course objective on their ability to analyze,

research, work in teams, and effectively communicate in teams and in a classroom presentation situation.

45 students in a class section ◦ Larger class size

May drive the type of assessments you use and number of writing assignments you require

May drive the type of activities you do◦ Online classes of 45 students- even more

challenging

Most textbooks devised for a 3 s.h. course◦ Too much content

and not enough time

The Good News:◦ Taking the time to

craft, evaluate, and revise SLOs can help you overcome some of the challenges of teaching!

Our department offers at least fifteen to twenty sections of our general education courses each semester.

The Problem: Each faculty member developed their own student learning objectives and we were unable to document comparable exit learning outcomes that occurred among the different instructors and modalities of instruction.

Develop common student learning outcomes for each of the health science general education courses.◦ Some courses were easier than others◦ Personal Health Promotion was the most

challenging Many more faculty involved Consensus difficult to achieve

Common course objectives were developed with opportunity for input and review by all faculty teaching Personal Health Promotion

Continuing the SOSO was NOT an option Why we were able to reach consensus -total

conformity was not expected.◦ Faculty were given opportunity to add more objectives

to their course if they desired. ◦ Faculty retained freedom to emphasize certain topics

as long as the core objectives were covered◦ At the same time, we agreed to limit textbook

selection to three books. We could not agree on one.

The Group Process facilitated:◦ facilitated dialogue on pedagogy and sharing of

teaching ideas and activities.◦ shared responsibility and accountability for

student outcomes in all Personal Health courses. The Outcomes

◦ More consistent approaches and focus on agreed upon core objectives

Currently:◦ Assessment measures for the general education

courses is driven primarily by individual faculty◦ Reports of assessment measures to the General

Education Council are based on faculty selected course objectives (not

all need to be reported) and their chosen method(s) of assessment for that objective

Report of assessment of all student learning objectives

Use of common, valid and reliable assessment instruments

Analysis of results would lead to faculty group dialogue on the results, interpretation of the results, and how the results will be used for future course improvement

Mail:Dr. Jeanne ClercDepartment of Health Sciences, 402 StipesWestern Illinois University1 University CircleMacomb, IL 61455

Phone: 309-298-2223 E-mail: JM-Clerc@wiu.edu