We did not answer all the questions that we posed during this year-length exploration of the learner outcomes model.  Each project resulted in slightly different data that can be interpreted in various ways.  However, it was an invaluable experience to articulate those questions and to begin the quest for answers.  The primary feeling among the instructors involved in the project is that we’ve just begun.  There is much more work to do!

Even though the projects had varying results, it’s possible to draw a few general conclusions: 

·        Focusing on the goals and outcomes for a course seems to sharpen the course content, making a more cohesive experience for student and teacher alike.

·        Most projects showed that students seemed to be actually learning the material being taught in the courses.

·        Some new teaching strategies seemed to increase student learning.

·        None of the statistical data showed a significant improvement in success and retention as a result of using the learner outcomes model.  In fact, in two cases, the numbers went down.

·        Developing well-defined assessment tools and criteria may, in fact, lower success rates because a standardization of values takes place, making grading more consistent and perhaps more rigorous.

David Douglass, Institute participant and psychology instructor, repeatedly cautioned the group to question our numbers.  We were dealing with such a small cadre of students that it was impossible to draw any meaningful conclusions. We derived our success and retention data by comparing the grades and retention numbers between two classes taught a year apart with no controls over all the various factors that can influence student performance.  David says that this is simply not good science.  As he states in the conclusion of his project report, “Accurate measurement is the essential component of outcomes assessment; it is also the least understood and, indeed, the least used component.”  As a group, we feel it is simply too soon to claim that the learner outcomes model either does or does not help success and retention and that only longitudinal studies could show this. We want to continue our work to see if we can produce quantitative results that are more meaningful.

These results revived a source of debate that first surfaced at the Summer Institute.  Is quantitative numerical data the only trustworthy and “scientific” way to measure the results of using the learner outcomes model?  Many of us collected qualitative data that showed increased student success and satisfaction as a result of incorporating a learner outcomes approach.  How much should we weigh student attitude when analyzing our results?  How much should we weigh the attitude and enthusiasm of instructors in drawing our conclusions?  Most of us felt that the year’s work has made us better teachers, but we don’t have reliable numbers to prove it yet.  This qualitative assessment should not be overlooked.

The Learning Paradigm conference

Five participants from the Institute attended the fourth North American Conference on the Learning Paradigm sponsored by Palomar College in San Diego in March 2000.   This conference, subtitled Transformation through Teaching and Technology, gathered faculty and administrators from across the country and Canada to share new approaches to teaching.  We attended presentations and talked with others who were using the learner outcomes model.  Many conference sessions were inspiring, providing us with new techniques and questions to ponder.  While we found a number of schools exploring the learner outcomes model in fascinating ways, no one had considered a faculty institute and year-long classroom project like Cabrillo’s.  We were struck by the high level of interest in our approach and may present there next year. Two Institute participants presented our project at the statewide California Assessment Institute in March 2000 and were very well received.  We hope to continue sharing the results of our project with other schools around the country.

The Future

Cabrillo will hold another Learner Outcomes Summer Institute in June 2000 to involve another 15-20 instructors in exploring the learner outcomes model.  We are continuing to probe how this teaching mode can best serve Cabrillo students.  The participants in original institute will both attend some of the sessions and also serve as guest speakers to the new group.  We are enlarging the learning community of faculty studying this model.  The original group of faculty will also implement new curriculum plans, using the learner outcomes model in another class that they will be teaching next fall.

Those of us participating in this project are grateful to the David and Lucille Packard Foundation and our far-seeing administration that enabled us to spend an entire year focused on teaching and student learning.  We were granted a gift of both time and community, which has resulted in improving our students’ skills, our classroom teaching and the college as a whole.  Thank you.