Determining SLOs

Student learning outcomes (SLOs) are the measurable skills and abilities that a student should possess upon the completion of a course or program. Through the analysis of SLO assessment it is possible to identify skills gaps that may be present in your students as a whole, or specific populations of your students.

Course or program objectives are the discrete skills and content students should learn.  The key word here is should. But how do we know if students have actually learned the specific skill or content and can apply that knowledge? Course or programs outcomes are the measurable skills and abilities that students are able to demonstrate subsequent to completing the course or program.  The outcomes then should be a reflection of a students' actual skills or abilities. As an exercise try grouping your course or program objectives based on what skill or ability you hope your student will obtain. Many times your objectives will be grouped into 3-8 groups that you can then derive your SLOs from. For examples of objectives leading to outcomes: Course Objectives leading to Learning Outcomes

Because calculation of a course grade often involves a combination of sources such as class participation and other objectives, the single course grade does not directly represent the student’s achievement of a specific learning outcome or skill. Instead of how many students received A’s or D’s in the course,  SLOs are geared to describe a specific skill that is acquired which is central to the course.

When writing SLOs, focus on student behavior and use simple, specific action verbs to describe what students are expected to demonstrate.  The wording for many SLOs will begin as follows:

• "At the conclusion of the (course or program) students will be able to <action verb>..."
• Consult with Bloom's taxonomy when choosing the action verb best suited to the desired  outcome
• For an alternate method for writing SLOs, please check the ABC Method from UC San Diego: ABC Student Learning Outcomes (PDF)