Key Positions on the SLO Team
The entire campus is responsible for carrying out SLO work effectively at the course, program, and institutional levels. The Committee on Curriculum and Instruction (CCI) and the Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes (ASLO) Subcommittee oversee this work. The SLO Coordinator is the chair of the ASLO Subcommittee. The SLO Coordinator, the SLO Facilitators, and all faculty are responsible for closing the loop on the College’s SLOs.
ASLO & CCI Committees
The Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes (ASLO) Subcommittee is a standing subcommittee of the Committee on Curriculum and Instruction (CCI). The timely, appropriate, and meaningful assessment of Student Learning Outcomes is an integral component of the curriculum process at Long Beach City College. The SLO Coordinator, SLO Facilitators, and Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes Subcommittee (ASLO) members actively ensure that the creation, modification, and assessment of learning outcomes adheres to the Board Policy 4020 and follows the charge and membership as outlined in Administrative Regulations 4020 and processes set forth by the Accrediting Commission of Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC), as well as the California Community College Chancellor’s Office.
The ASLO Subcommittee is responsible for establishing and modifying the Institutional Student Learning Outcomes (ISLOs), updating LBCC’s Principles of Assessment, and conducting a Technical Review of all new and modified SLOs and their corresponding assessment methods. Furthermore, the subcommittee establishes the SLO assessment cycles and disaggregation policy. Through the SLO Evaluation Cycle, the efficacy of all aspects of the SLO assessment cycle are reviewed to ensure continuous, quality improvement of the College’s assessment efforts. Through the technical review process, the members of the ASLO Subcommittee evaluate new and modified SLOs based on a set of established criteria (identified in the CSLO Checklist and PSLO Checklist and the viability of their assessment methods.
ASLO Subcommittee members also frequently communicate with the Course Evaluation and Associate Degree/General Education Subcommittees to ensure that curriculum processes are collaborative, efficient, and effective. Because of this high-level and widespread communication of SLOs and their assessment, ASLO and Curriculum play an integral role in empowering faculty at various points throughout the assessment cycle.
SLO Coordinator
The Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) Coordinator is responsible for providing leadership and guidance to faculty for the development and assessment of Student Learning Outcomes at the course, program, and institution levels to improve student success. The Coordinator is responsible to the Academic Senate’s Committee on Curriculum and Instruction for the development and assessment of Student Learning Outcomes in the instructional process and reports to the Vice President of Academic Affairs for administrative, fiscal, and personnel matters.
The SLO Coordinator oversees, guides, and supports the work of the SLO Facilitators, chairs the Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes (ASLO) Subcommittee, and works with Institutional Effectiveness to ensure that the assessment cycle is carried out efficiently and effectively. Moreover, the SLO Coordinator empowers SLO Facilitators and faculty to analyze disaggregated SLO data and to close the loop on outcomes assessment in a focused and meaningful manner. The SLO Coordinator fosters a collaborative campus culture, ensures ACCJC Standards pertaining to SLO assessment are met, informs reports due to ACCJC, and prepares annual reports to highlight SLO assessment progress and accomplishments.
The SLO Coordinator also works with members of the college community in promoting, developing, and implementing Student Learning Outcomes assessment and related activities such as departmental initiatives and grant development. The Coordinator serves as a member of the Committee on Curriculum and Instruction, College Planning Council, and Viking Pathways Taskforce; the Coordinator also serves as a liaison to the Faculty Professional Development Committee, as well as a resource to the Student Success Committee and Department Plan/Program Review Subcommittee. For the Institutional Self-Evaluation, the SLO Coordinator serves as a member of the Accreditation Standard IA/IB Committee, IC Committee, and IIA Committee.
SLO Facilitators
The SLO Facilitator is the faculty SLO leader for a department and is responsible for managing the SLO assessment process for its courses and programs. SLO Facilitators ensure that their departments are participating in the SLO assessment cycle at all levels, guiding fellow faculty toward “closing the loop” on assessment in focused and efficient ways. They also report out on department CSLO and PSLO results of assessment, analysis, and potential actions to take to improve student learning.
Facilitators are trained by the SLO Coordinator to assist faculty with questions and concerns and become experts in assessment procedures, forms, and SLO-related accreditation standards. Facilitator awareness of and expertise in these processes and procedures allow faculty colleagues to focus on the creation of SLOs and assessment methods, as well as the analysis of assessment and potential actions to take to improve student learning. Furthermore, facilitators submit new, modified, and inactivated SLOs through the appropriate Google forms, which allows departments the benefits of automating assessment processes while meeting key accreditation standards.
The SLO Facilitator position is highly interpersonal and involves encouraging, supporting, and guiding conversations with department faculty to improve student learning. It is essential that facilitators discuss timelines and expectations for course and program SLO assessment with department faculty. Facilitators also work in coordination with the ASLO Subcommittee and the SLO Coordinator. The position is a one-year commitment with the possibility for renewal based on an evaluation. Facilitators are paid a small stipend and the end of their commitment, upon completion of all responsibilities and submission of all deliverables.
Current Department SLO Facilitators
Faculty
Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes is intended to enhance the way faculty teach their courses to ensure student learning and refine how faculty plan for the future of LBCC courses and programs. Assessment of SLOs should provide meaningful data that faculty can analyze and use to determine whether or not students are mastering critical course content. Assessing SLOs also allows faculty to teach a course with clear outcomes while maintaining academic freedom.
All faculty have access to Course Outlines of Record, which list each course’s SLOs and it is the expectation that faculty include these SLOs on their course syllabi. Faculty can also ask their SLO Facilitators for information about course-to-program SLO mapping and course-to-institution SLO mapping, both of which highlight how student learning at the course-level informs the Student Learning Outcomes that students should obtain by the time they are awarded a certificate or degree and/or complete the general education curriculum.
Moreover, all full-time faculty have access to Tableau Dashboards, which provide access to the college’s disaggregated Student Learning Outcomes assessment data, as well as summary dashboards that provide access to historical documentation of results of assessment, analysis, and meaningful actions taken. These dashboards give faculty in each department and discipline a shared understanding of the data and show how subpopulations of students are learning. This data can be utilized to inform program planning and review as well as faculty efforts to close equity gaps in student learning and achievement.
In order to make assessment meaningful, faculty must participate in all aspects of SLO creation, modification, assessment, analysis, and actions. With faculty engaged in each step of the assessment cycle, improvements to student learning can be identified and actions can be agreed upon and taken to improve learning outcomes.