{"id":38,"date":"2018-10-31T10:59:30","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T15:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/?page_id=38"},"modified":"2026-02-12T10:22:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T16:22:28","slug":"ilo-resources","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/ilo-resources\/","title":{"rendered":"Intended Learning Outcomes: Revisions and Resources"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-modular-content-collection>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Submitting New or Revised Department\/Program ILOs:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Prior to submitting ILO Revisions on CourseLeaf for Curriculum Committee Approval:<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Discuss ILOs\/ILO revisions within Department\/Program, with Department Chair\/Program Director and members of Department\/Program<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Seek feedback from the Associate Dean for the Department\/Program<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Submit proposed ILOs\/revisions to the Academic Assessment Committee via <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/forms\/d\/e\/1FAIpQLSet7pHkaHE9MFX94gMeAslEFeegOInijV1My6EXbNzAS4Hr-Q\/viewform?usp=sf_link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Forms<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>The <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Academic <\/span>Assessment Committee<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019s role in this process is to review and offer feedback on the new or revised ILOs before the department or program submits them to the Curriculum Committee. The <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Academic <\/span>Assessment Committee will direct any comments or suggestions to the proposer (generally understood to be the Program Director or Department Chair). New or revised ILOs will then be submitted by the department\/program to the Curriculum Committee using CourseLeaf.&nbsp; Following approval of department\/program ILOs by the Curriculum Committee, the ILO statements and the date will be updated on the <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/curriculum-committee\/ilo-all\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ILO website<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tips for Writing Assessable ILOs:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Intended Learning Outcomes should hit the \u201csweet spot\u201d between broad goals or competencies and specific performance indicators or measures:<\/span><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><b>Goal Area:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Broad category of student learning (e.g., communication)<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><b>Competency: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">General statement of student learning; lacks context and is not measurable (e.g., \u201cStudents will communicate effectively.\u201d)<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><b>LEARNING OUTCOME: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Identifies what the student will be able to do as a result of the work (e.g., \u201cStudents will be able to speak formally in front of a group.\u201d)<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><b>Performance Indicator: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Specific, measurable statement identifying student performance required to meet the outcome (e.g., student delivers information clearly, utilizes visual support, manages questions appropriately)<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><b>Performance Measure: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What will be done to determine student performance on the indicator (e.g., direct assessment by faculty\/peers using a rubric)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Learning outcomes should follow the general model of \u201cStudents will &lt;ACTION VERB&gt; &lt;SOMETHING CONCRETE&gt;.\u201d<\/span><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p><b>Choose a specific and descriptive action verb.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Verbs like \u201cunderstand,\u201d \u201cknow,\u201d and \u201cappreciate\u201d are difficult to assess. Instead, think about the kinds of skills, abilities, or knowledge students will exhibit when they \u201cknow\u201d or \u201cunderstand\u201d something. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/celt.iastate.edu\/prepare-and-teach\/design-your-course\/blooms-taxonomy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bloom\u2019s Taxonomy<\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is a common framework that can help you choose an appropriately descriptive verb. For a very deep dive into effective verbs, consider <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/files.eric.ed.gov\/fulltext\/ED555528.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">this paper on learning outcomes statements<\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (pp. 17-19 may be particularly useful).<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><b>Limit the number of learning outcomes to 3-5. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There may be many outcomes you desire for your students, but the learning outcomes you choose for your department or program should represent the key, foundational outcomes you want all students to achieve. Remember that you will be responsible for assessing the learning outcomes stated for your program, so limiting their number will make this process more manageable.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><b>Focus on the learning, not the process. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An outcome such as \u201cStudents will write multiple drafts of an essay\u201d describes <em>how<\/em> students will learn<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, not <em>what<\/em> they will <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">learn<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Instead, focus on specific skills that students may gain from the stated process, such as \u201cStudents will identify effective communication strategies for their intended audience,\u201d or \u201cStudents will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of an argument.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><b>Use \u201cand\u201d sparingly.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Consider whether students will have the opportunity to demonstrate each type of skill stated in the outcome (e.g., \u201cidentify, analyze, and evaluate\u201d). Or, if the outcome dictates multiple types of content (e.g., \u201cliterary, cultural, and artistic artifacts\u201d), consider whether students will be exposed to each of these dimensions. Using \u201cor\u201d instead of \u201cand\u201d can help make assessment more manageable and meaningful.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Intended Learning Outcomes should be used to guide not only assessment <\/span><b><i>OF<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">learning (whether students met the learning outcomes), but assessment <\/span><b><i>AS<\/i><\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><b><i>FOR<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">learning, where students use feedback on their performance to inform and improve their future work, and instructors use students\u2019 performance data to enhance their curriculum and teaching. Consider involving students in developing or revising learning outcomes for your course or program, in order to ensure that the language used is clear and that students are invested in achieving the stated outcomes. For more tips and resources related to learning outcomes, visit the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/ir-e\/developing-effective-statements-of-intended-learning-outcomes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment website<\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Submitting New or Revised Department\/Program ILOs: Prior to submitting ILO Revisions on CourseLeaf for Curriculum Committee Approval: The Academic Assessment Committee\u2019s role in this process is to review and offer [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2679,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-38","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2679"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1180,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38\/revisions\/1180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}