Mission, Goals and Student Learning Outcomes

Program mission, goals and student learning outcomes

Mission

A mission statement is a broad statement that communicates what the program is, what it does and who it serves. It informs the stakeholders about the offerings of the program and states alignment with the mission and vision of the college. It overall speaks to the broad capabilities that are expected from its graduates as reflected in the curriculum. Mission statements may also include brief statements on the career possibilities for students and how the program prepares students to succeed in prospective higher education, career and life.

To write mission statement:

Determine the following program components and then formulate them into a statement:

Name
Major Purpose
Key functions
Stakeholder (undergraduate students, graduate students)
How the program mission aligns with the college mission
Prospective of the major in terms of higher education, careers, etc.

Program Goals and Program Student Learning Outcomes

Program Goals are broad learning statements that simplify and breakdown what the program mission says it will do in terms of student learning. Learning goals describe in broad terms the knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes that a program expects its students to achieve. Goals serve as a framework to develop specific learning outcomes associated with each particular goal.

Program Student Learning Outcomes (PSLOs) are specific measurable statements derived from program goals that indicate how the knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes that a student is expected to attain upon completing the program, i.e. what the student will be able to do as a result of the educational experience. The PSLOs are the means to measure the stated program goal.

To write PSLOs:

Review the program mission and program learning goals
Review the program curriculum and syllabus of individual courses
Think about existing graduates and current students enrolled in the program. Have discussions among faculty and analyze as to what the program expects its students to have in terms of knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes upon program completion.
Review discipline specific associations. For example, for psychology major, review the program student learning outcomes for American Psychological Association, etc.
Remember PSLOs are measurable and observable behaviors less broad than the program goals but not too specific to become course level objective/learning outcomes.
Refer to the Bloom’s Taxonomy as a resource
Use verbs that point to the specific, knowledge or skill that can be measure and acquired in the subject area.

To write the expected SLOs, begin with statement “students will …” and use an action verb and an object.
The verb states action as per the cognitive process and the object describes knowledge students are expected to acquire (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001, pages 4-5 )

Example: Students will be able to explain the causes of unemployment and inflation.
Avoid the usage of verbs such as understand, know, appreciate, etc.

Sources:

_{Anderson, L. W., & Krathwohl, D. R. (Eds.). (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching and assessing: A revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of educational objectives: Complete edition, New York : Longman.}_{Banta, Trudy W., and Catherine A. Palomba. Assessment Essentials : Planning, Implementing, and Improving Assessment in Higher Education, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/yorkcol-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1782543.}_{“UCF Academic Program Assessment Handbook” University of Central Florida, ©2005, edition 2008, accessed October 2016 https://oeas.ucf.edu/doc/acad_assess_handbook.pdf}_{"Assessment Primer: Goals, Objectives and Outcomes”, UCONN, University of Connecticut Assessment webpage accessed October 2016 http://assessment.uconn.edu/assessment-primer/assessment-primer-goals-objectives-and-outcomes/}_{“How to Write Program Goals” UCONN, University of Connecticut, accessed October 2016. http://assessment.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1804/2016/06/HowToWriteGoals.pdf}_{“Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy”, CELT, Iowa State University, accessed April 2017 http://www.celt.iastate.edu/teaching/effective-teaching-practices/revised-blooms-taxonomy}

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