slo

In Spring 2016, the General Education Office identified a need to improve its indirect assessment efforts. Working with the co-creators of the Student Assessment of their Learning Gains (SALG) instrument, the office developed and piloted an assessment plan beginning with the Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Focus requirement. Through the pilot, the General Education Office aimed to increase familiarity with SALG in order to educate others about its value in improving the quality of instruction; recruit faculty to pilot the use of SALG in HAP-designated courses; and identify how meaningful, usable assessment data could be extracted from SALG to address programmatic and learning needs within the General Education program. This poster provides information on the SALG instrument, outlines the process taken and challenges involved in implementing a new assessment plan, and identifies important next steps in the process.

Adopting a New Assessment Approach: Using SALG to Evaluate General Education Learning Outcomes

In Spring 2016, the General Education Office identified a need to improve its indirect assessment efforts. Working with …

Assessing the Planning Practicum: Lessons for Engaged Scholarship

The planning practicum is a required course in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program in …

Capstone Signature Assignment Development in a History BA Program

The Department of History has been engaged in assessment work of our undergraduate major, identifying how we can …

Development of a Signature Assignment in Filipino Cultural Courses

This project presents a signature assignment for Indo-Pacific culture courses to assess the students’ cultural competency by discussing …

Strength in Numbers: Facilitating Faculty Learning Communities for General Education Student Learning Outcomes Assessment

Reaching consensus on curricular issues and learning outcomes is challenging, especially in attempting to achieve campus-wide agreement on …

Automation of Student Learning Assessment for the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET)

The MS program in the Ocean and Resources Engineering Department (ORE) is certified by the Accreditation Board for …

Life Sciences Uniting in Assessing Student Writing

Student learning outcome (SLO) statements made by an educational program serve as targets for achievement and openly communicate …

Integrated Planning for Student Success: Kapi‘olani Community College’s Continuous Improvement Journey

In early 2019, ACCJC reaffirmed Kapi‘olani Community College’s accreditation status, but mandated a follow-up report and provided an …

Incorporating Learning Outcome Assessments into Noncredit Education: A Novel Approach

Quantitative assessments in noncredit education typically evaluate participant’s satisfaction or experiences with courses and the instructor. Learning outcomes …

Establishing an Assessment Plan for the Undergraduate Molecular and Cell Biology Curriculum to Achieve Program Permanence at UHM

This project establishes a programmatic assessment plan for the Bachelors of Science program in Molecular and Cell Biology …

Curricular Assessment for Improved Sequenced Learning

Many students find sequenced courses to be challenging due to prerequisite knowledge being the starting point in each …

Creating a Rubric of Critical Thinking for Writing Intensive Courses

This poster reports an ongoing project collaborated by a team of Chinese faculty who teach writing intensive (WI) …

Assessment across the Disciplines: Increasing Faculty Engagement in Assessment

During the 2020-2021 academic year, the English, Hawaiian and Foreign Languages, Speech and Communication disciplines in the Language …

Assessing Civic and Community Engagement in Ethnic Studies

Ethnic Studies was born out of community demand and community engagement has had a central place in the …

Advanced Degree Institutional Learning Achievement Investigation: Methods and Opportunities for Action

This poster presents the process and results of an institutional assessment project that investigated advanced degree program learning …

The UH Manoa Anthropology Program, established in 1934, is the leading department of anthropology in Hawai'i, the Pacific, and Asia with full subfield offerings in archaeology, cultural anthropology, and biological anthropology. Presently, it offers BA, MA and PhD degree programs. In 2016, twenty-six (26) students were enrolled in the doctoral program. This poster describes the processes by which assessment procedure/tools were selected and/or developed to measure SLO achievements of these doctoral students. Building on the assessment activities conducted during 2014-2015, specific efforts that led to programmatic improvements and enhanced student learning outcomes are outlined, including faculty engagement strategies that were employed. Faculty expectations of students were better clarified in the newly developed PhD dissertation defense rubrics. Next steps involving close-the-loop strategies to further enhance student learning are also described.

The Anthropology PhD Dissertation Defense Rubric: Enhancing Student Learning

The UH Manoa Anthropology Program, established in 1934, is the leading department of anthropology in Hawai’i, the Pacific, …

Given the complex nature of the requirements for the 6 degree programs offered by the department of East Asian Languages and Literatures (EALL), the issue of student and advisor concern over the accessibility of accurate information regarding these requirements is addressed. This poster describes the strategies and effort taken by the EALL graduate chair and faculty to merge the 6 graduate programs into two: one MA and one Ph.D. program in EALL through powerful program assessment processes: consolidating student learning outcomes (SLOs) and unifying curricula through curriculum mapping (CM) activity. The poster first highlights the enormous challenges in the merge process: consolidating 13 sets of SLOs and unifying 13 sets of courses/degree requirements while leveraging diverse input and preferences of graduate faculty. SLOs consolidation and CM development process are then detailed along with how faculty were aided in seeing the big program picture and focusing on program commonality instead of individual differences. Faculty engagement strategies, such as meeting with senior faculty individually, SLO content analysis, research of peer institution, and developing mock products first are provided. With the unified degree programs and revised assessment tools, EALL is becoming a unified department sharing common educational goals across different languages and tracks.

Merging graduate degree programs with the Program Assessment tool set

Given the complex nature of the requirements for the 6 degree programs offered by the department of East …

This poster describes the program student learning outcomes development process in the Dental Hygiene BS degree program. It details the challenges that the program faced in the past, the success strategies to engage faculty, and the benefit of assessment process. The Dental Hygiene BS degree has 16 faculty members, most majority of whom are practitioners as dental hygienists or dentists. Project objectives and the methods of revising Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) are outlined, a detailed description of Program SLOs is provided, and follow-up actions along with next steps are provided.

From revising program SLOs to a culture of open communication in Dental Hygiene

This poster describes the program student learning outcomes development process in the Dental Hygiene BS degree program. It …

This poster describes strategies to build faculty capacity in curriculum design and alignment and ways to plant the seeds for faculty collaboration and engagement in program assessment within the newly formed Astronomy BA & Astrophysics BS program in an effort to address the challenge of the difficulty students face in engaging faculty in discussion and planning of teaching and learning due to the nature of the program schedule. This poster provides personal insights and observed impact from efforts to effect change. In addition to providing examples in skill mapping, writing rubrics, curriculum alignment, and course deisgn, effective ways to engage willing faculty in using course assignments to investigate progress towards key student learning objectivese are also outlined.

Engaging science faculty in program assessment – planting seeds and cultivating growth

This poster describes strategies to build faculty capacity in curriculum design and alignment and ways to plant the …

The Master of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) is nationally accredited and trains future speech language pathologists. This project aims to evaluate and improve the curriculum map for the program. A curriculum map shows how each course contribute to the student learning outcomes (SLO). To facilitate the process, the department’s educational coordinator met individually with each instructor to complete a “Course Map” for their course(s). Each course map aligned the class assignments with the SLOs, as assignments are the meaningful and measurable deliverables of students learning. Faculty also indicated how each assignment emphasized the target SLOs by assigning a weight. All weighted course maps were then merged to create a weighted curriculum map, which provided information on which SLOs were significantly addressed in the program and which were addressed with less emphasis. Outcomes of faculty discussions of weighted curriculum map included: recognizing course redundancy, combining courses to increase learning opportunity and using faculty time more effectively, rewriting of SLOs to better match accreditation standards and required student competencies, as well as a new assessment project focusing on the SLO related to professionalism.

Use of a Weighted Curriculum Map for Programmatic Improvements in Communication Sciences and Disorders

The Master of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) is nationally accredited and trains future speech language …

Exploring possibilities for, and effects of, Integrated Performance Assessments (IPAs) in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, this poster reports an action study using IPAs in an undergraduate beginning Mandarin program. The poster first features a review of IPAs, followed by an overview of curriculum redesign and IPA test reconstruction. The poster then presents a concrete model for IPAs in a Chinese 101 and 102 Beginning Mandarin. Successful teaching activities and assessment task samples will be presented. The effects of this adaptation are demonstrated using quantitative and qualitative data, including oral assessment videos, writing samples, supplementary listening and reading materials, rubrics for scoring, test scores, student self-reflections, and more. The data show that students (1) generally favored using IPAs, (2) took initiative to review the IPA rubrics and to reliably engage in filling out "can-do" checklists, (3) demonstrated a positive correlation between IPAs and traditional test scores. The poster concludes that IPAs can be equally successful, and can offer more, in university foreign language classes.

Implementation of Integrated Performance Assessments (IPA) in Beginning Level Chinese Language Classes

Exploring possibilities for, and effects of, Integrated Performance Assessments (IPAs) in the Department of East Asian Languages and …

Faculty and doctoral students of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning (DURP) initiated a review of their PhD program requirements and curriculum. This poster highlights the usefulness of faculty-student collaboration for program assessment to enable program improvement. The assessment coordinator organized a colloquium in which PhD candidates presented their dissertation research. Faculty evaluated the presentations based on the PhD program student learning outcomes (SLOs). Written comments from faculty evaluators were then coded as strengths and weaknesses corresponding to each SLO component to generate a preliminary qualitative assessment. At a subsequent meeting, faculty and doctoral students reviewed the preliminary qualitative assessment, PhD curriculum, core course syllabi, and PhD guidelines. They identified shortcomings in the existing curriculum, mapped degree requirements and program SLOs, and proposed revisions to better align the curriculum with program SLOs. They also outlined next steps toward improving the curriculum such as increasing the number of core course credits and providing more teaching opportunities for PhD candidates through summer school and online courses.

An Assessment-Informed Collaborative Initiative: Curriculum Mapping for PhD Program Improvement

Faculty and doctoral students of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning (DURP) initiated a review of their …

In this poster, assessment activities in Natural Resources and Environmental management (NREM) were designed to address three critical questions: (1) Are NREM graduate degree program student learning outcomes (SLOs) still appropriate?; (2) Do current core departmental graduate courses adequately address graduate degree program SLOs?; and (3) If current core and elective courses do not adequately cover the existing SLOs, how can they be modified to do so? The NREM Curriculum Committee gathered answers through multiple, collaborative activities inclusive of both graduate students and faculty. In total, the assessment process and implementation included input collected during departmental faculty meetings, faculty and student meetings, collaborative Google documents, faculty workshops, and departmental retreats. This poster describes the concrete strategies and steps through which facilitated collaboration occurred over key milestones of the overall program assessment process. This poster summarizes challenges encountered, such as engaging instructional, research and extension faculty from Oahu and neighbor islands and outlines success strategies and suggestions for other programs to utilize a facilitated collaborative process to move program assessment forward.

A Collaborative Assessment Process for Sustained Curriculum Improvement in Natural Resources and Environmental Management

In this poster, assessment activities in Natural Resources and Environmental management (NREM) were designed to address three critical …

The Marine Biology Graduate Program has established an ad-hoc committee to review existing protocols of the comprehensive exam and is collating the most effective elements and best practices from each of academic units across the program. This committee will make recommendations to the MBGP faculty at large for discussion, consideration, and ultimately implementation.

Revising the oral comprehensive exam in the UHM Marine Biology Graduate Program

The Marine Biology Graduate Program has established an ad-hoc committee to review existing protocols of the comprehensive exam …

Children in Hawaii experience the worst oral health outcomes nationally. Seven out of 10 third graders experience tooth decay, 7% need urgent dental care and 60% lack dental sealants. Limited pediatric didactic and clinical educational experiences for BS dental hygiene students affects attitudes towards treating pediatric patients. Curriculum changes should be considered in order to improve the comfort and skill level of future BS students in treating pediatric patients.

Pediatric Dental Care Curriculum Component Integrated in the Existing Dental Hygiene Program

Children in Hawaii experience the worst oral health outcomes nationally. Seven out of 10 third graders experience tooth …

Less than 75% of Biological Engineering students have been assessed as meeting student learning outcome targets in the identifying, formulating, and solving engineering problems. The program faculty have collaborated to adopt a developmental approach to assessment, rubric development, curriculum mapping, and instruction, including a signature assignment at the junior level.

Scaffolding and Assessing Engineering Design: Effecting Program Change from Course Innovations

Less than 75% of Biological Engineering students have been assessed as meeting student learning outcome targets in the …

The Department of Linguistics Comprehensive Exam consists of two Qualifying Papers. In recent years the QPs have fallen out of step with trends in the field, resulting in students struggling to pass. We describe our actions to overhaul our Comprehensive Exams, including clarifying procedures, realigning SLOs, and developing better rubrics.

Overhauling the comprehensive exam in the Department of Linguistics: First steps

The Department of Linguistics Comprehensive Exam consists of two Qualifying Papers. In recent years the QPs have fallen …

Presenting and Communicating Assessment Results (and Data Visualization)

In this workshop, participants will learn several simple techniques to create clear tables, charts, and one-page reports. Clear …

Making Sense of Student Learning Outcomes Assessment Results

In this workshop, after faculty evaluate student learning evidence (e.g., written reports, oral presentations, exams), they start to …

Develop Program Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

Last Updated: 4 March 2024. Click here to view archived versions of this page. Note: The information and …