Webmaster's note: Due to a temporary computer network problem, the August 2002 issue of Nuts & Bolts was written in a standard word-processing program and distributed to SCI faculty and staff in a hard-copy format. This copy has been posted to SCI's assessment website for archival purposes.

Nuts & Bolts

A mild-mannered look at goals, objectives, outcomes

First, have a definite, clear practical ideal; a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends; wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end. -- Aristotle 384-322 B.C.E.

Since we're paying more attention this year at SCI to the goals, objectives and outcomes we write into syllabi, we thought it might be useful to share how a member of the Assessment Committee is researching the question for a course he's designing. The member is your newsletter editor (who is about to switch into first person singular here), and the course is an Introduction to Mass Communications I hope to introduce. While the course hasn't been approved yet, I'm designing it with articulation in mind. In order to do that, I've had to learn how to write up goals and student learning outcomes.

Educators define "outcomes" as measurable behaviors that demonstrate knowledge gained in a course, like explaining something, describing it, analyzing it and so on. I like to think of them of as what my students will be able to do coming out of my course. Cheesy, yes, but it helps me remember the concept.

My message here is it doesn't take a Superman (or -woman) to write learning outcomes that will fly, even though some of the language is confusing. All we need is the research skills of a mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent before he steps into the phone booth. Basically I got started with two web searches.

SCI's computer network temporarily does not allow documents to be written or edited to the web domain at <www.sci.edu>. Therefore, this month's issue of Nuts & Bolts is not available on the web. A copy will be archived on the assess-ment website when access is restored.

Since I want our Mass Comm intro to transfer, my first step was to go to the Illinois Articulation Initiative's website at <www.itransfer.org> and look up the course description. Since it's not an IAI core course, under "iTransfer Majors" I found MC (Mass Comm.) 911, "an overview of the nature, functions, and responsibilities of the mass communication industries in a global environment with an emphasis on the media's role in American society." IAI adds, "On successful completion of the course, students will be able to" meet eight outcomes. The first, for example, is to "demonstrate an understanding of the reciprocal influence of the media and contemporary society." Another is to "critically analyze legal and ethical media issues."

In addition to IAI's "iTransfer" website, I've searched for other syllabi. While I think it's essential to make sure my students can transfer their courses, which I can best do by following IAI guidelines, I also want to keep abreast of nationwide trends So I did a keyword search in Google on "mass communications" and "introduction" (any search engine, including your particular favorite, will do just as well). Among the courses I found, there's one at Tulane University that I liked a lot (at <http://www.tulane.edu/~uc/mediaarts/200rhode1.htm>). Listed among its outcomes is to "[d]evelop a strong media literacy through awareness and critical analysis of the impact of the mass media." So with Tulane and New Orleans on my mind, I put a Neville Brothers album on the CD player, cranked up my word processor and came up with a new draft syllabus that says on completing the course, my students will be able to "define the functions of mass media, both in the United States and in a global environment" and to "apply critical methods to the study of mass communication." In the end, the stated outcomes become a blend of IAI, Tulane and my own judgment on what young people ought to know for a successful career in the mass media.

I'm still working on the goals statement, but it will follow from my outcomes, and from IAI's description of MC 911 as an overview of the "nature, functions, and responsibilities of the mass communication industries in a global environment with an emphasis on the media's role in American society." There's some language from Tulane, too, that looks good: "This course is designed to develop an understanding and knowledge of the various fields of mass communications." Once I get a goals statement I like, I'll rework my outcomes to ensure that everything fits together.

What's important, I think, is that by spending an afternoon on the Internet I was able to start designing a course that will give my students at SCI the same shot at learning the fundamentals of a new field as their peers across the state of Illinois and students at the better colleges and universities nationwide. And it gave me an excuse to listen to some first-class New Orleans musicians in the process.
-- Pete Ellertsen, editor, Nuts & Bolts

Assessment Committee named for 2002-03. Members of SCI's faculty-administration Assessment Committee for the 2002-03 school year are: faculty members Bob Blankenberger, Susan Full, Alice Gutierrez, Penny Leonhard, Scott McCullar, Steve Stowers; Student Affairs Dean Kevin Broeckling, ex officio; Academic Affairs Dean Jeff Mueller, ex officio; and a student. Assessment Facilitator Pete Ellertsen will chair the panel. If you wish to nominate a student, or you have any suggestions, questions or concerns to bring before the Committee, please feel free to contact any of us.