Introduction | Clustering our Institutional Objectives
Linking Course Objectives to Institutional Objectives
Conceptualizing Objectives | Assessment Committee

Introduction

There are several things to remember as you are writing course objectives and planning the format of a syllabus. Information included below will remind you of the things that must be included in each syllabus.

There is, however, a longer view in mind: in a recent meeting, members of the assessment committee discussed steps that we need to take to prepare for writing our self study in 2003-4. The departments that are under review in the coming year have already worked on updating their departmental mission statements, reworking objectives for the majors they offer, and summarizing quality improvement initiatives that have been accomplished as a result of student outcome data. All departments will be asked to work on these things and write a brief report at the close of the 2002-3 academic year. This is an exercise that will serve as part of the documentation for writing the self-study in the following year.

So, what does this have to do with writing syllabi? We all need to be moving in the same general direction. Our committee believes that the traditional nine institutional objectives have served us well and do not need to be rewritten between now and the accreditation review in 2005. We may wish to address this after re-accreditation is complete. We do feel that "nine" is a large number in light of recent recommendations from the Higher Learning Commission (NCA) to reduce the number of objectives to a workable three to five.

For this reason we have clustered the nine GC institutional objectives into three groups. This greatly improves the "summative" evaluation process we must undertake as an institution to determine if we are indeed carrying out our mission to "transform" students' lives. This process will be guided by Bloom's taxonomy and will include both ideographic and nomothetic data-that is, portfolio works collected by the student, and standardized tests of academic achievement (e.g., Academic Profile).

Clustering our Institutional Objectives

The clustering of our nine GC institutional objectives into three groups may help you as well, in the process of linking them to course objectives and course assignments.

Basically, the three clusters address critical thinking, world diversity, and character formation within the student. If you recall, the original nine were written from an existential perspective in a progression from universal (objective #1) to personal (objective #8) and culminated with the call of God upon the life (#9) which is our privilege through Christ. The implicit assumption within this progression is that objectives #1-8 are active in the accomplishment of objective #9 in the context of Christian liberal arts education.

Likewise, cluster A and B are active in the accomplishment of cluster C. A, B, and C are not discrete "silos" but are interactive categories of skills. The communication of these skills is essential in order for the student to provide evidence of their accomplishment. Many institutions include "communication" as a separate institutional objective. We have found in the recent review of departmental plans, that a majority of departments outline communication proficiency requirements for their majors in a manner tailored to their discipline. As long as this method is clearly documented in the "Assessment plan for Majors" it does not need to be added as a separate institutional objective.

The clusters look like this:

1. Seek truth. 2. Learn to think critically and creatively. 3. Understand and value the wholeness of creation. 4. Understand our world. 5. Respect human life and understand the human condition. 6. Understand and apply basic social structures and processes. 7. Develop self-understanding. 8. Value personal accomplishment. 9. Respond to God's expression.

This format will be posted on the web so that it does not need to be copied within the body of each syllabus.

Linking Course Objectives to Institutional Objectives

As you write course objectives and develop assignments through which those objectives will be accomplished, think about which of the three clusters is most operative. Identify the cluster that best describes the course objective, and if possible, identify which of the GC objective(s) the course objective addresses.

The "Assessment Plan for Majors" sent to departments during Spring semester, 2002, describes the manner in which course objectives may be linked to both institutional and departmental objectives. An example of how this linking process could be used with the clusters indicated above, consider the Statistics syllabus written by Jim Zahniser for Spring 2002. After a sentence indicating where the list of institutional objectives may be found on the web, the course objectives are listed:

Course Objective: To demonstrate a basic understanding of descriptive and inferential Statistics, as well as to apply statistical reasoning and statistical procedures in logically sound ways.

This objective is met through the following experiences:

• Completion of assigned readings
• Completion of regular homework
• Studying for and performing well on quizzes and the final exam

Institutional Objectives addressed: A 2, C 7-9

A 2: Studying statistics will lead to logic and reasoning skills that will allow the student to more critically and creatively examine claims about the cause-and-effect relationships between variables, for example, between situational factors and human behavior.

C 7: Through encountering the philosophical and practical applications of statistical reasoning and statistical techniques, students will learn more about the types of learning and scholarly work in which they like to engage.

C 8: Students who work hard in this class undoubtedly will learn new skills that will lead to a sense of personal accomplishment.

C 9: Students will learn new tools for investigating God's expression of creation, by learning how to apply statistical reasoning and techniques to questions about
human behavior and experience.

This objective is broad in scope and includes learning experiences across all levels of Bloom's taxonomy, from "knowledge" to "synthesis and evaluation." Consider, for each of your courses, what degree of scope is best for each learning objective. Students may experience less confusion when addressing objectives more limited in scope and more specific in the description of what is needed to complete the objective. What makes this objective significant, as an example, is the manner in which Jim describes how the institutional objectives are fulfilled.

Here is another example taken from Rich Bean's General Psychology syllabus:

Course Objective: At the close of the semester students in PSY 101 will apply psychological principles to the environment.

This objective is met through the following experiences:

• Off-campus learning experience
• Off-campus learning experience journal

Institutional Objectives addressed: B 5-6, C 7

This objective seems to addresses the "application" level of Bloom's taxonomy. What is not stated but implied in the objective is how psychological principles are to be applied. In many cases, general psychology students observe and recognize psychological principles in the environment of their selected off-campus site and record those observations and their connection to text material in the journal they are required to turn in for point credit at the end of the observation period. In cases where the student actually intervenes within the environment and does so as a result of intentional application of internalized psychological principles, then they could be viewed as meeting Bloom's criteria for "application."

This example serves to remind us that sometimes the most important words for describing an objective are not always included in the written description. Examine your own objectives to determine what key words you are leaving out. Include them this year, and see if it makes a difference in the number of questions you receive about the assignment.

This next example is from Physiological Psychology:

Course Objective: At the close of the semester students will be able to compare and contrast in discussion and written form two current research strategies that address a specific neurological dysfunction.

This objective is met through the following:

• Research Paper 700 points (format on pg. 3 of syllabus)
• Short essay 200 points

Institutional objectives addressed: A 2, B 5, C 7

This objective is more specific in describing the assignment through which it is accomplished but does not describe the ways in which such a course objective meets the institutional objectives.

In summary, be mindful of Bloom in the wording of your course objectives. One of the documents that has been helpful to Dave Holden and Sharon Alger as they work out the assessment plan for the GOAL program is a chart that categorizes Bloom levels with phrases and terms that can be used in writing objectives to address those levels. Charts for both the cognitive and affective domains are included as attachments to this email.

Conceptualizing Objectives

It may be helpful to talk with other members of your department about how your course objectives work together to develop mastery in your graduates. One of the ways to visualize this is through the use of a matrix that will be used as part of the summative evaluation of student portfolios. The matrix looks like this:

Consider what cells you are covering with the objectives in a particular course, and, in discussion with colleagues, consider what cells are covered with sequences of courses that contribute to mastery in your graduates within your field of discipline.

If we use the three objectives from the Psychology department that we looked at earlier, using color and shape to denote the target areas, we see that there will have to be specific ways of assessing mastery at the higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy.

This is something we have been working on as a department during the past year-finding ways of improving writing assignments so as to facilitate synthesis and evaluation, as well as integration into the student's vocational orientation. We do not have answers, but we are experimenting with changes in how we present writing assignments, and how we articulate expectations regarding content, form, and quality of presentation that go a step beyond saying, "follow APA format."

When completing your course objectives, check for these components:

• Verbs that begin the objective are drawn from the Bloom level that you intend to target in your description of student outcome behaviors.
• The objective contains the behavior you expect from the student, the form in which you expect to receive the outcome behavior or document, and the content domain you ask the student to address.
• A link to institutional and departmental objectives (or objectives created for a specific major).

The reason we are sending this information at this time is to reinforce the work many departments have already undertaken. They are retooling their old 1995-6 departmental assessment plans into assessment plans specific to each major-and they are upgrading the quality of all syllabi and course descriptions in order to more consistently and clearly articulate their expectations of students who graduate. In this process departments are recognizing quality improvement initiatives - changes in curriculum or program delivery that have been made as a result of student outcome data. Documentation of these initiatives is a vital preliminary step to the writing of your departmental or program review for the accreditation self-study process.

Thanks for taking the time to read and reflect on these ideas. Blessings on your academic year!

Assessment Committee

Dave Holden
Norm Hall
Susan Hughey-Rasler