Academic Programs and Certificates Outcomes Guide

Student learning outcomes or SLOs focus on students' knowledge and skills expected upon completion of an academic degree program. When writing a student learning outcome, it is important to consider:

What should my students know or be able to do at the time of graduation?

• The WHO is the graduating student.

• The VERB describes the students' action.

• The WHAT refers to the expected knowledge or skill the graduates of the program should have mastered.

Examples:

• Poor: Students will demonstrate the ability to write effectively.

• Better: Students will demonstrate their ability to compose a final essay with a well-defined thesis.

• Best: Students will construct a research paper with a well-defined thesis using critical theory to compare and contrast two specific literary periods.

Program Outcomes or POs focus on expected programmatic changes that will improve overall program quality for all stakeholders, including students, faculty, and staff.

It does not incorporate learning outcomes, but rather emphasizes areas such as recruitment, professional development, advising, hiring processes, and/or satisfaction rates. When writing program outcomes, consider the following question: How can I make this program more efficient?

• The WHO includes multiple stakeholders generally, since the program is viewed as whole (i.e. undergraduate and/or graduate students, faculty, and/or staff members)

• The VERB describes any and all that will affect the stakeholders.

• The WHAT refers to the expected experiences and/or accomplishments of the program.

Examples:

• Poor: Graduate students will be satisfied with the program.
• Better: Graduate students will be satisfied with the master's program.
• Best: Graduate Students will be satisfied with the overall effectiveness of student advising in the Master's program in Construction Management.