Resource Exchange

Using Outcomes-Based Assessments
Submitted by: Forsyth Technical Community College
Contact: Bart Ganzert

As demand for specialized job skills increases in the local economic market, instructors are faced with the need to efficiently find and employ effective teaching methods. Demands have also been placed on instructors and program coordinators to find specific measurable ways of assessing course outcomes to meet accreditation criteria. In order to ensure a consistent delivery of program material and to meet accreditation criteria, a fixed model of performance-based outcomes is necessary. These outcomes must be specific and measurable as well as being a usable model for all vocational, technical, and transfer programs.

As part of a 2005-06 Perkins Grant, Forsyth Technical Community College embarked on a project to create templates using measurable learning outcomes for courses in its vocational and technical programs. The objective was to teach faculty how to create measurable assessments to use in the classroom and to incorporate them in a syllabus template that could be used by other instructors teaching the course. The result was a series of templates that contained assessments matched to the respective course competencies and accompanying rubrics for assessing student work. These templates and assessment rubrics can be used as assessment guides for existing courses, or as a guide for instructors choosing to develop their own assessments.

Instructions for Template Use
After viewing the introduction to outcomes-based assessment presented by Dr. Pat Shoemaker of Radford University, use these templates to transform your course syllabus into outcome-based assessments. First, save the file using a name of your choice (File, Save As). Then, enter information specific to your course. The sample templates have been created in Microsoft Word using a table. Press Tab to move from one cell to another cell. Press Enter to add an additional line within the cell. If you prefer to not display the cell borders, choose Format, Borders and Shading, and click the setting “None.” If light gray borders remain, they will not print, but can be removed by choosing Table, Hide Gridlines. You may also change the font used by choosing Edit, Select All and then Format, Font.