PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES
Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) articulate the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and habits of mind students have and take with them when they complete a program. For more on the development of PLOs, see the PLO Assessment Handbook. For course development purposes, PLOs are the framework that gives structure to a program, ensuring that a program is not just a collection of separate courses but also a cohesive and integrated experience that allows students to learn at increasing skill and understanding levels. This section gives an overview of how PLOs work at USU and what faculty and SMEs should consider as they develop, review, and revise courses.
Bloom's Taxonomy
PLOs are written using Bloom's taxonomy, which classifies educational learning objectives into mastery levels. For more information on using Bloom's Taxonomy, see the Course Learning Outcomes section below.
Alignment to ILOs
At USU, all PLOs are directly aligned to the ILOs (Institutional Learning Outcomes). Currently, there are nine ILOs, with each program having nine corresponding PLOs. These are categorized into three groups of core competencies, each of which a learning outcome statement has been created:
a.
Literacy: 1) Information & Media, 2) Cultural, 3) Discipline
b.
Communication: 4) Written Communication, 5) Oral Communication, 6) Collaboration
c.
Reasoning: 7) Quantitative Reasoning, 8) Ethical Reasoning, 9) Critical Thinking
PLOs are numbered and core-competency focused in the same way but are written to support the program's degree-level and disciplinary expectations. For the Master list of USU Learning Outcomes, click here.
Levels
PLOs should reflect the level of the degree awarded (bachelor's, master's, etc.). This distinction should be easily apparent in comparing an undergraduate list of PLOs to its graduate counterpart. Leveling is achieved most obviously through verbs and where it falls on Bloom's taxonomy sequencing of ability.
Publications/Communications/Sharing
As a key tool for representing the expected results of their learning, PLOs should be shared widely: on the program's website page, in the Catalog, and program handbook.
Accreditation
PLOs are an essential tool for our institutional accreditor in assessing how well we are doing as a university in keeping our promises to our students. See the WASC PLO Quality Rubric for more detail.