The discussion won’t revolve around graduates’ careers or salaries, and it won’t directly compare their learning experience at Western to experiences at another university. But, if you attend tomorrow’s Town Hall on Western Degree Outcomes, come prepared to consider curriculum development and learning expectations at the institutional level, said John Doerksen, Western’s Vice-Provost (Academic Programs and Students).
“What is a ‘learning outcome?’ This is what a student should expect to know and expect to do. These are the kinds of assessments that will be done at the course level to ensure you’ve met those outcomes. And learning outcomes align with degree outcomes,” he explained.
“When we’re talking about ‘Western degree outcomes,’ we’re really talking about the undergraduate degree-level expectations. Our effort is to give those expectations a kind of Western meaning and context.”
To fully understand where this initiative is coming from, some context is needed.
Western reviews every program on campus – grad and undergrad – every seven years, according to Ontario Universities Council on Quality Assurance guidelines. Every university in Ontario does this; it is a provincial initiative.
“The broad framework for our review is the Undergraduate Degree Level Expectations. What they do is identify broad categories of learning that a student will achieve for different credentials,” Doerksen explained.
According to the council, that means a student enrolled in a program at an Ontario postsecondary institution should achieve the following skill sets within their program – depth and breadth of knowledge; knowledge of methodologies; application of knowledge; communications skills; awareness of limits of knowledge; and autonomy and professional capacity.
These factors provide a broad degree outcomes framework for Ontario’s universities, Doerksen continued. Western, as a continual part of its program review process, strives to align learning outcomes for each program it offers with these guidelines.
But Western is also following a handful of Ontario universities, namely Waterloo, Guelph and Toronto, who have developed their own measures of degree outcomes to fit within the broader framework outlined by the quality council. This was a recommendation from the council to all provincial postsecondary institutions.
A working group with campuswide representation from faculty, librarians, students and other academic representatives has been consulting with the campus community to identify distinctive skill sets fostered in undergraduate programs offered at Western.
“What is it that is unique and distinctive about a Western degree? We’ve heard themes like critical thinking. That’s important to our teaching mission. The working group will focus on that and try to articulate just what it means at Western,” Doerksen said.
Leadership development is another offering that has come up in discussion.
“One of the things I want to do at the Town Hall is offer a bit of an overview of the things we’ve heard from the faculties about the skills acquired while at Western,” he added.
“This is a framework for us to be able to discuss curriculum. Let’s say, for instance, that communication skills are important, and we say we want to make sure there are writing skills and presentation skills. Then, we want to be able to make sure, as we map our curriculum for the kind of assessments we’re doing, that we give students an opportunity to actually do presentations in class, to write essays and other kind of reports.
“The assessment happens at the course level, but this is an attempt to be more purposeful in the way we develop curriculum.”
The Town Hall will be an opportunity for the campus community to provide input on the process, Doerksen noted.
The working group has been meeting with faculties, educational policy committees, department chairs and undergraduate chairs for input on specific programs and particular learning outcomes. The Town Hall will be a general meeting to ensure anybody who has an interest in Western Degree Outcomes has an opportunity to hear what has been happening across campus and to provide input, feedback and advice to the working group, Doerksen explained.
“The working group will put together a draft report on Western Degree Outcomes, including recommended degree outcomes, and that report will circulate to the campus community. After there’s been a chance for everybody to review that, and provide feedback to the working group, we will make some final revisions and then the report goes to the Provost, and recommendations for Western Degree Outcomes will go to Senate,” he said.
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IF YOU GO: The Western community is invited to the Town Hall on Western Degree Outcomes Town Hall scheduled for 1:30-3 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, in the University Community Centre, Room 146.