How to Identify Student Learning Outcomes for Career Centers
What are student learning outcomes (SLO)?
Ruth Stiehl in her book The Outcomes Primer, asks this question: How do we reconstruct courses and programs around outcomes that are relevant to the needs of learners in the 21st century? She goes on to define Student Learning Outcomes as what the student will be able to Do, in the rest of life, with what s/he learns in this course, program and how do we measure it?
Why are SLO's so important?
Because accreditation compliance requires California Community Colleges to include Student Learning Outcomes in their learning plans, most colleges are drafting the student learning outcomes for their respective institutions, programs and courses. That means that if you have not done so, you will soon begin to prepare the student learning outcomes for students using your career services program.
Three Questions to Ask
The Career Center at the University of Illinois documented how they went about determining SLO's in the article, "Discovering Student Learning Outcomes and Program Strategies." They began the process by asking three important questions:
How do students benefit by using our services?
What do we expect students to learn or acquire as a result of participating in programs and/or services in our Center?
When students graduate, what difference has the Career Center made in their lives?
How to use a PLO's Template
You may find this Program Outcome (PLO) Guide Template from The Outcomes Primer, helpful as you begin building your PLO's. Ruth Stiehl insists that when using this template you must always plan backwards beginning with the outcomes. From there you can answer the questions in any order.
| #4 Prerequisites | #3 Learning Experiences | #2 Assessment Tasks | #1 Intended Outcomes |
| What must a student be able to do before engaging in this work? | What learning experiences are necessary to include in our program to prepare students? | What can we have students do in this program to show final evidence of the intended outcomes? | What do students need to be able to Do "out there" for which this program will prepare them? |
| Complete a self assessment of skills, strengths, interests | Participate in Career Workshop Series | Number of successful job placements | Students successfully market themselves by identifying and communicating their skills, strengths and education |
An Example of SLO's
Check out the Mission Statement and Student Learning Outcomes from San Jose's Career Center. Learn more about the affective, behavioral and cognitive Student Learning Outcomes for Career Programs.Q: The Ultimate Techno Student-Info Scene Handout 1 Handout 2