NMT Gen Ed Learning Objectives

1
NMT Gen Ed Learning Objectives

• An ability to communicate well
• An ability to reason well
• An ability to evaluate and apply information
• Development of analytical and quantitative skills
• Competency of the fundamentals of mathematics and
  basic sciences
• An understanding of human societies and cultures
• A recognition of responsible vales and ethics

2
Assessment Steps

• Develop learning outcomes.
• Check for alignment between the curriculum and
  the outcomes.
• Develop an assessment plan.
• Collect assessment data.
• Use assessment results to improve the program.
• Routinely examine the assessment process.

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Core Objectives of American Universities

• Written and Oral Communication
• Critical thinking
• Information literacy
• Some colleges have missions that distinguish them
  from other universities, and this should be
  reflected in their general education program.

4
Hierarchy of learning outcomes

• Mission
• ?
• Learning Goals
• ?
• Learning Outcomes

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Defining Goals and Objectives

• Determining the programs objectives is the first
  step of assessment.
• Faculty should decide how many goals and outcomes
  to have.
• Learning outcomes should be carefully
  articulated. Poorly defined objectives trivialize
  the program and its assessment. Learning outcomes
  should not be so narrow as to trivialize the
  process, nor so broad that they lose meaning.

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Defining Goals and Objectives (cont.)

• Learning objectives focus on knowledge, skills,
  and values. Learning goals and outcomes answer
  the following three questions. When they finish
  general education program (or graduate),
• What should students know?
• What should students be able to do?
• What kind of attitudes, values, or
  predispositions should students have?
• Program objectives focus on what students learn,
  not on what faculty cover in courses.
• Objectives should clarify if faculty expectations
  are for absolute or value-added attainment of
  knowledge that is, if the goal is to attain
  certain level or to improve students ability.
• Learning objectives describe how students
  demonstrate that they have achieved program goals.

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Examples of General Education Goals

• Civic responsibility, values, and ethics.
• Communication skills.
• Critical thinking skills and habits.
• Information literacy.
• Intellectual flexibility.
• Interpersonal and teamwork skills.
• Knowledge integration across the disciplines.
• Lifelong learning skills.
• Multicultural understanding.
• Problem solving skills.
• Quantitative skills.

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Effective learning objectives should

• Focus on what students learn, not on what the
  faculty teaches.
• Explain how students can demonstrate mastery of
  program goals.
• Comprehensively define each goal.
• Use active verbs that specify definite,
  observable behaviors.
• Identify the depth of expected processing of
  information.
• Distinguish between absolute and value-added
  expectations.

9
Guidelines for Writing Learning Objectives

• Appoint a small group to draft the goals and
  objectives. Eventually, all faculty should
  participate in the discussion. The program is
  owned by the faculty and they should decide
  what the program should accomplish and how to
  assess student progress.
• Faculty should invite students to review
  objectives and identify any sources of ambiguity.
  The final result should be a set of clear, useful
  learning objectives that guide curriculum
  planning, teaching, learning, and assessment.
• Learning objectives should be widely distributed
  in the catalog, on the web, in department
  newsletters, and on syllabi. All major
  stakeholders, including regular and adjunct
  faculty, supervisors, student support personnel,
  and students should be aware of learning
  objectives and use then to guide course and
  curriculum planning and learning.

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Depth of Learning

• Blooms taxonomy (1956) describes levels of
  information processing
• Knowledge to know specific facts, terms,
  concepts, principles, or theories.
• Comprehension to understand, interpret, compare
  and contrast, explain.
• Application to apply knowledge to new
  situations, to solve problems.
• Analysis to identify the organizational
  structure of something, to identify parts,
  relationships, and organizing principles.
• Synthesis to create something, to integrate
  ideas into a solution, to propose an action plan,
  to formulate a new classification scheme.
• Evaluation to judge the quality of something
  based on its adequacy, value, logic, or use.
• Another classification of information processing
  is by differentiating between deep and surface
  learning (Biggs, 1999). Deep learning makes
  knowledge personal and relevant to real-world
  applications, whereas surface learning encourages
  superficial study strategies that rely on
  memorization and that do not lead to deeper
  understanding.

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Aligning Curricula with Learning Goals
Able to communicate well Able to reason well Able to evaluate apply info Develop analytical quantitative skills Competent in fundamentals of Math sciences Understand human societies and cultures Recognize responsible values and ethics
Math 131 I I I/P/D
Math 132 D P/D I/P/D
PHYS 121, L I I I/P/D
PHYS 122, L D P/D I/P/D
CHEM 121, L I I I/P/D
CHEM 122, L D P/D I/P/D
Science 1 I I I/P/D
Science 2 D P/D I/P/D
ENGL 111 I/P/D I
ENGL 112 I/P/D P
ENGL 342 D I
Humanity P P I/P/D D?
Social Science P P I/P/D
I Introduced, P Practiced, D Developed
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Organization of GE Program Assessment

• Chairs of departments that teach GE courses
  should be responsible for organizing assessment
  of general degree learning outcomes in their GE
  courses. Results of the assessment of GE should
  be included in annual departmental assessment
  reports.
• Administration should encourage and reward
  departments and people who carry out assessment
  of GE.
• GDRA Committee should provide guidance to
  departments and coordinate overall GE assessment
  activity.
• Adjunct faculty should participate in the
  assessment.

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Plan for GDRA Committee Activities

• Evaluate learning goals of the general education
  program. Refine definitions, add, or remove some
  of them (Committee ? Departments ? Committee).
• Define clear learning outcomes for each learning
  goal (Departments).
• Determine the alignment of GE program with the GE
  learning goals (Committee).
• Determine the alignment of the general education
  courses with the GE goals (Departments).
• Develop an assessment plan/recommendations for
  some of the GE learning objectives (Committee ?
  Departments).