SLO Responsibilities
“The ACCJC has indicated its position that outcomes assessment is not an optional activity, but rather an obligation to be included in the regular work activities of faculty and other college personnel and a practice that should be incorporated into decision making and other processes of all colleges” (ASCCC, 2010).
According to the Southwestern College Education Association’s (SCEA) contract, faculty shall:
- Work collaboratively to establish (or in some cases review/adjust) a three year SLO assessment timeline and process for assessing all SLOs in courses, programs, and/or services in said discipline unit.
- Ensure that the SLO timeline for assessment is aligned with the Program Review Cycle
- Review, write, and/or revise outcomes as needed, analyze outcomes, and develop and evaluate plan(s) for course/program/services improvement
- Assess all discipline SLOs once over a three-year timespan
- Not assess more than three SLOs per class in a single semester.
- Consider and use results of SLO assessment when developing and implanting plans to improve the delivery of instructional/non-instructional services as needed.
- Enter disaggregated student learning outcome data into the data system adopted by SWC.
When are SLOs assessed?
Assessment dates for SLOs are recorded on the Outcomes Assessment Timeless (OATs). The OATs detail when an SLO should be assessed and when the results are to be discussed. OATs can be obtained from the SWC website or by contacting the SLO liaison for your discipline.
Who can help with SLO assessment?
Generally, faculty work with faculty on SLO assessment. SLO results are discussed among faculty members at discipline meetings, SLO breakout sessions, and other meetings as arranged by faculty. Meetings organized through professional development are available for flex and hurdle credit.
To assist with SLO assessment Southwestern College has implemented discipline SLO liaisons. SLO liaisons:
- Advise faculty on the creation and modification of SLOs as needed
- Advise faculty in the creation of rubrics and assessment tools for collecting SLO data
- Advise faculty in the creation of outcomes assessment timelines (OATs) and informing faculty of deadline stated in the OATs
- Facilitate faculty input of SLO data into eLumen and storage of discussion notes
- Coordinate faculty discussions on assessment data review, creation of action plans, and use of SLO assessment results in program review
- Input and manage all approved new, modified, and inactivated SLOs into eLumen as needed
- Create and distribute SLO packages to faculty as stated in OATs via eLumen each semester
- Run eLumen reports for discipline faculty review
- Facilitate workshops on SLO assessment as needed
Further, two SLO Co-Coordinators support SLO liaisons efforts. Faculty may also contact an SLO Co-Coordinator as well.