SLOs on Syllabi

Overview

Student Learning Outcomes on Syllabi

Accreditation and SLOs on Syllabi

Accreditation Standard II.A.3 requires that “…in every class section, students receive a course syllabus that includes learning outcomes from the institution’s officially approved course outline.”

To ensure continued compliance with this Standard, the College has institutionalized a process for collecting all course syllabi and verifying that the SLOs match the official Course Outline of Record. To ensure our students receive the official approved SLOs for their courses, faculty are required to submit their syllabi through the College’s established process in Canvas.

Steps for Faculty Submission of Syllabi on Canvas

This process requires the following steps:

  • Faculty must verify that SLOs on their syllabi match those listed on the Official Course Outlines of Record.
  • Faculty must save and upload copies of their syllabi to the Syllabus Submission Assignment within the Syllabus Submission School Canvas Shell. Syllabi should be submitted in PDF format using the naming convention provided in the Canvas shell. 
  • Faculty are encouraged to submit by the census date for their courses and by no later than the second week of class. Syllabi submissions must occur for all course sessions (e.g., 5-week, 8-week, 16-week, etc.) 

Note: Beginning in Fall 2022, this process replaced the previous syllabi collection system for each school. Syllabi are no longer accepted via email to Administrative Assistants or Academic Administrative Assistants (AAs/AAAs) and must be submitted by faculty through the Syllabus Submission School Canvas shell. 

Please watch the following video for a demonstration of how to submit syllabi in Canvas:

What to Expect Following Syllabi Submission

Each term, AAs/AAAs check to ensure syllabi from all course sections are submitted on time. SLO Facilitators and the SLO Office Assistant support SLO Assessment and will be verifying the accuracy of a randomly selected sample of SLOs on Syllabi. Every faculty member should expect that their syllabi will be reviewed at least once every two years. In smaller departments, faculty syllabi will be reviewed on a more frequent basis.

Faculty who are randomly selected for syllabi review each term will have their syllabi submissions graded in the School Canvas Shell. Faculty receive a grade of complete on the submission if SLOs match the Course Outline of Record. When SLOs do not match, faculty receive a grade of incomplete with a message requesting needed revisions. SLO Facilitators, Department Heads, and Deans will check to ensure that SLO updates are made following these requests. 

Further resources, such as the Roles & Responsibilities Charts, Resource Guides for faculty, SLO Facilitators, and administrative support staff, as well as other supports for ensuring that accurate SLOs are on all course syllabi can be found here.

History of the SLOs on Syllabi Process

In June 2022, based on their review of the College’s 2022 Institutional Self Evaluation Report and the 2022 Peer Review Team Report, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior College (ACCJC) determined that the College must demonstrate compliance with Standard IIA.3 by ensuring that students receive a course syllabus that includes the learning outcomes from the officially approved course outline of record. This demonstration was required to be addressed in a Follow-Up Report due in May 2023.

As a result of receiving this compliance recommendation, an SLOs on Syllabi Work Group was formed and was comprised of faculty and administrative leadership. The work group developed and broadly vetted the SLOs on Syllabi process prior to implementation in Fall 2022. Since then, the process was evaluated and further refined in Spring 2023 based on faculty feedback. Further details about the development and initial implementation of the process is described in the College’s Follow-Up Report.

In April 2023, the College submitted the required Follow-Up Report to the ACCJC. In June 2023, based on review of the Follow-Up Report documentation and evidence, the ACCJC found that the College had resolved the deficiencies and come into compliance with Standard IIA.3.

The expectation of the ACCJC is that the College will continue implementation of this process to remain in compliance with the standard. The College must also demonstrate continued compliance with the standard when submitting the required ACCJC Midterm Report in 2026.