FAQ

COURSE LEVEL

How can I tell which of my courses have outcomes?
Your department admin can run an Argos report for one or more prefixes.

Should all courses have outcomes, even 188/288, 199/299, or 180/280's?
The general guideline is that all active courses must have learning outcomes defined, but the Learning Outcomes and Assessment committee is working on this to create more clarity. This is needed for our specialized course curriculum. One option is to create basic institution-wide outcomes for these courses; another option is to exclude them.

PROGRAM LEVEL

I am hearing a lot about POG's and program outcomes. What do I need to do?
The instructional assessment focus is not on program-level outcomes and assessment for 2015-16, but we need to continue our current progress in this area. CTE Council is gathering POG's and outcome materials in your N drive space, Tony Russell and Michele Decker (as well as other experienced faculty) have offered to help any department that would like to define or revise outcomes or develop assessment activity.

Do I HAVE to develop a POG?
The POG has been an effective communication and organizational tool to express complex program concepts, and COCC has adopted POG's at the program level. That being said, if you have another way to communicate your program outcomes and assessment activity, propose it (and then use it).

Do I need outcomes (and assessment towards learning outcomes) for certificates as well as AAS degrees?
Several years ago, COCC defined academic program, with the specific intent of assessment and accreditation, below. It is all degrees and certificates, so according to our current definition, yes. All the schools I have looked at do this (see automotive examples at PCC http://www.pcc.edu/resources/academic/degreeoutcome/default.cfm?fa=program&subject=AB,or Chemeketa https://www.chemeketa.edu/classes/catalog/documents/Automotive.pdf).

COCC Definition of an Academic Program: An academic program is any institutionally established combination of courses and/or requirements leading to a degree or certificate. [Approved AA, 2/16/14]

What should I do if I only have one set of outcomes that represents our entire discipline, which actually has several certificates and degrees OR if I only outcomes for the degree but I have certificates too?
Our current recommendation is to encourage faculty who are developing or revising program outcomes now to include certificates and degrees. If you have outcomes and are not currently working on revisions, your focus should be on whatever assessment you are doing towards the outcomes with the intent that it is meaningful. We are pretty confident we need outcomes defined for all AAS and Certificates; the question of whether we need them for short term/career pathways is a topic we need to clarify--see below.

Are short-term certificates programs (and do they need a set of student learning outcomes, and should they be assessed)?
I followed up with some of the folks on Academic Affairs when the program definition was approved to see if there was any discussion of short term certificates/career pathways (to see if we intend to exclude them) and there was no intent to exclude them but it is also not clear if we had the discussion (are short-term certs programs). The current definition is inclusive.

What should I do if I don't have outcomes (and therefore assessment) for short term certificates/career pathways?
Sit tight until we clarify this across instruction.