Institute/Session Summary:

Learning outcomes are the newest wave of attempts to quantify education and evaluate effectiveness.  In some ways, they are what many of us have called “objectives” in the past, but in the “No Child Left Behind” world of mandated assessments, learning outcomes have taken on a new urgency and often created an uneasy climate of suspicion.   Many educators recognize that learning outcomes are not always the best measures of effectiveness, but when we have no choice but to produce them, we can at least generate ones that address our unique learning center programs, students, and priorities.

This concurrent session will provide some background about what learning outcomes are, some examples of outcomes for learning center programs (not developmental courses), and a brief bibliography of sample research articles and outcomes reports.  We will then turn to looking at different sources of data that can be used as evidence of learning, including commercially available instruments, surveys, self-report and observation records, usage data, and institutional measures of student success.  While the primary focus will be on clients’ learning, we will also cover the value of outcomes for student and professional employees.

The second half of the session will give participants the chance to practice writing outcomes statements using anecdotal situations, followed by identifying data sources that can measure the extent to which students meet those outcomes.  These will be shared among participants.

Presenter’s Experience:

Jan Norton has developed and worked in learning centers for about 25 years.  She has been the leader of the Learning Assistance Center Management SIG and the Research & Evaluation SIG; she occasionally serves as a consultant for learning center evaluation.

Presenter1 Name: Jan Norton
Presenter1 Institution: University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Presenter1 Bio: Jan Norton directs the Center for Academic Resources at UW Oshkosh; her M.A. is in Educational Research & Psychology.  Jan has led two CRLA SIGs (Learning Assistance Center Management and Research & Evaluation), reviews program certification applications for NADE, and serves as an evaluation consultant for learning centers.