Defining Institutional Outcomes

Definition of Institutional Outcomes

Institutional outcomes for Southwestern College were derived through a collaborative process between the residential campus and Professional Studies with primary responsibility residing with the full-time residential faculty. Today, both units of the college use the same institutional learning outcomes, with the residential campus and Professional Studies designing and deploying unique assessment plans based on the learner population served.

INSTITUTIONAL OUTCOMES

  • Critical Thinking – The ability to analyze information to arrive at a reasoned judgment of what to do or believe
  • Ethical Reasoning – The conscious practice and accepted standards of fairness and integrity in all endeavors
  • Leadership – The ability to create and communicate a vision that inspires others to act or achieve a desired goal
  • Communication – The ability to communicate effectively using reading, writing, listening, behavior, media, quantitative data, and technology
  • Career Preparation – The cultivation of knowledge, attitude, creative skills, to excel in life’s chosen work

The Principles of Good Practice for Assessing Student Learning, developed by the American Association of Higher Education provides the following conceptual framework:

  • The assessment of student learning begins with educational values.
  • Assessment is most effective when it reflects an understanding of learning as multidimensional, integrated, and revealed in performance over time.
  • Assessment works best when the programs it seeks to improve have clear, explicitly stated purposes.
  • Assessment requires attention to outcomes but also and equally to the experiences that lead to those outcomes.
  • Assessment works best when it is ongoing, not episodic.
  • Assessment fosters wider improvement when representatives from across the educational community are involved.
  • Assessment makes a difference when it begins with issues of use and illuminates questions people really care about.
  • Assessment is most likely to lead to improvement when it is part of a larger set of conditions that promote change.
  • Through assessment, educators meet responsibilities to students and to the public.

Professional Studies utilizes information from the results of outcome assessments to drive curricular change, provide faculty development opportunities, identify opportunities for improvement, and determine future academic needs.