Learning Outcomes: Managing Accreditation, Accountability and Curricular Review

CourseLeaf’s Tracy Hilbert shares why properly managing learning outcomes is vital to your school’s success and how the right technology can help.

Learning outcomes are the foundation for every course your institution offers. They describe the specific knowledge and skills students will gain and how they will help them reach their ultimate education goal—whether graduating with a degree or gaining new competencies for the job market.

But that’s just the beginning. Campuses are increasingly using learning outcomes to prove they are making good on their educational promise to students, parents, and accreditors. Campuses also use learning outcomes to monitor degree programs. Administrators review learning outcomes as part of the curricular review process, which is crucial to keeping degree programs relevant in today’s ever-changing world.

Accountability, accreditation, and transfer articulation

Let’s start with accountability. Learning outcomes are like a contract between the institution and the student. When students sign up for a course, they promise to do the required work, including passing various assessments. In return for their hard work, students expect to gain specific competencies and expertise. Learning outcomes keep each party accountable, but especially the institution.

For example, a course on supply chain management could state that students who complete it successfully will be able to analyze trading policies and geographic distribution of resources to ensure the success of their employer. This level of detail helps students build learning paths to get them where they want to go.

Accreditation teams also use learning outcomes to ensure an institution meets its educational goals and mission. The Council for Higher Education Accreditation, representing more than 3,000 colleges and universities and 60 national, regional, and specialized accreditors, has made it clear (since 2001) that student learning outcomes are critical to “measuring education’s effectiveness.”[i]

Learning outcomes can also help with transfer articulation. Students are looking for reassurance that the courses they take at one institution will be transferable to another. This is why clear and concise learning outcomes are vital. They make it possible to verify that the Accounting 101 course at one school is equivalent to the Accounting 101 course at another or if the course might also fulfill requirements for entry into an MBA program at a campus across the state.

Curricular review

Learning outcomes are often scrutinized as part of the curricular review process, which on most campuses occurs once every five years. During a curricular review, administrators and faculty members review the learning outcomes, teaching methodologies, and assessment strategies of each degree program in their department. The goal is to assess the effectiveness of the curriculum in meeting the educational objectives set for the program and to identify areas for improvement or updating.

As you can imagine, curricular review can be a massive undertaking, requiring many hours of staff time to do it correctly. CourseLeaf has a Program Learning Outcomes (PLO) Mapping Tool that really helps during this stressful time.

Mapping or charting learning outcomes helps academic departments identify which courses align with each learning outcome, clarifying where these outcomes are introduced, practiced, and mastered. Generally, outcomes are first introduced in lower-level courses and further developed in upper-level ones, ensuring students have ample opportunities to gain the necessary knowledge and skills throughout the degree program.

The CourseLeaf PLO Mapping Tool keeps all program maps in one place and automatically updates them when faculty or administrators make a change. This tool ensures that program maps are up-to-date and accessible when needed most.

Managing and tracking learning outcomes

There’s a lot that CourseLeaf software can do for you and your campus to make managing and tracking learning outcomes less stressful. Working with clients at campuses nationwide, I have witnessed some fantastic turnarounds.

I have also seen the software’s evolution, and I am proud to say that, thanks to client feedback and ace software builders, it continues to improve. For example, outcome leveling is now an option.

If you’d like to find out more about how CourseLeaf is helping schools manage learning outcomes, I suggest you read this case study, which spotlights three schools: Central Oregon Community College, Wayne State University and Azusa Pacific University. Each school has a unique story about how CourseLeaf delivered on ROI. You can also connect with our team for a CourseLeaf demo, including the PLO Mapping Tool.