Workshop Activity

Round table discussions focussed on their concerns, as well as addressed some of the following questions:

• Do you consider learning outcomes important?
• In what ways do learning outcomes work or not work for you?
• What actions do we need to take as an organization to resolve difficulties implementing learning outcomes or assessment criteria?
• Do you link learning outcomes directly to assessment criteria and assignments?
• How can you make learning outcomes meaningful to students? How can you keep them focussed on the outcomes?
• What support can Programs provide to Instructors regarding learning outcomes? Do you know the overall mapping of the program learning outcomes to courses in your area? Do you know if there are other courses in your program that assess the same learning outcomes in the same way as in your courses?
• Do you think the approach to learning outcomes (or the way they are supplied) should differ from School to School?

Reporting back

Ways to engage students with the learning outcomes in their course or program:

• Scavenger Hunt on campus: Students hunt for photos or graphical representation of their learning outcomes, they return to class and share what they have found. As a class they talk about the course learning outcomes. (Michael Pardy, STNL 300)
• Portfolio focus: At the beginning of a course, students select which outcomes they want to focus on for a portfolio project. (COMM)
• Ask students to do a Popcorn Maker presentation that represents some or all of the learning outcomes
• "Competency evidence document" (students provide evidence of mastery and grade themselves against outcomes)
• Ensure that ongoing assessment and feedback to students aligns with the learning outcomes.