- Make the process collaborative. Work with a small group of two or three faculty members to draft your program’s student learning outcomes. Having multiple perspectives during this process is helpful. Each faculty member may have unique ideas about what the outcomes for students should be. Working in a group allows for conversations and consensus about what students should achieve.
- Get feedback from faculty. Once you’ve drafted a set of learning outcomes, ask other faculty in your program to review the content. Faculty can provide feedback on whether they feel the curriculum prepares students to achieve the list of outcomes you’ve generated and if they feel any essential learning is missing from the list.
- Get feedback from students. Beyond feedback from program faculty, input from students can provide insight into whether the outcomes are clear, meaningful, and engaging, given what they know when they enroll - while also encouraging students to think more actively about the goals of their own education.
- Get external feedback. Before you finalize your learning outcomes, be sure to check that you have phrased your outcomes clearly. Ask faculty from other disciplines and the Office of Assessment for feedback.
- Make them manageable. While the number of student learning outcomes for a given program depends on its particular context, having too many outcomes can overwhelm programs' capacities to assess student learning and make needed changes. The key is to have a set of outcomes that prioritizes the essential knowledge, skills, and values you have determined are essential for graduates of your program, AND that can be meaningfully investigated with your program's resources.
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