Degree Outcomes Visibility

Degree Outcomes: Getting Faculty and Students on the Same Page

Degree outcomes are created by faculty and describe goals for student learning, but students often have limited awareness of these aspirations for them, despite the ability of outcomes to guide their learning. Making degree outcomes more visible to students can help them understand what faculty, courses, and assignments are moving them toward; see the value of the degree through a different lens; and better articulate their learning. For faculty enhancing the visibility of their outcomes, this creates a moment of community to review the utility of the outcomes and consider the clarity of these statements from the perspective of students, their most important audience.

Over the course of the 2023-2024 academic year, faculty from ten degree programs across KU met repeatedly to discuss best practices in promoting learning outcomes to students. The faculty described twelve different methods they either used or were interested in exploring, and then debated the strengths of each approach. Faculty also discussed the implementation of these methods, rating each method across five important attributes; these five considerations for each method can guide colleagues when selecting one or more methods. Together, the twelve methods offer a rich menu of options faculty might choose from to begin connecting with their students more directly about their aspirations for their curricula.

Considerations When Choosing Methods for Visibility

How much work is required to create and deploy the method? Think in terms of both the number of hours as well as the number of colleagues, instructors, staff, or students that would need to be involved.

How many of the program’s outcomes can be represented by this method? Is it just a targeted subset of the outcomes, or are students getting exposed to the full slate of outcomes?

How detailed is the representation of the outcomes (whether just a few or all of them)? Are students deeply engaging with one or more outcomes in an active, sustained, or focused manner; or are they just being reminded of the outcome?

By using this method, are students engaging with the outcome repeatedly or only infrequently? Is their engagement scaffolded over time or focused in one (or a few) critical moments where they are particularly well-positioned to engage with the outcome?

How many students or how many types of students are being reached by this method? Is the target audience the entire group of students majoring in the degree program? Only early-stage students? Also including prospective students? Etc.

Methods to Increase Outcomes Visibility

Tagging Outcomes on Course Syllabi

In addition to course-level learning outcomes, syllabi can house degree-level outcomes. A strength here is that all degree outcomes can be represented. With both course- and degree-level outcomes present, the idea is to make the connection between the course and degree salient to students. How does your work in this course inform your broader degree progress?

Faculty indicated that tagging outcomes on course syllabi is moderate effort, high breadth, moderate depth, moderate frequency, and moderate reach.

Tagging Outcomes on Key Assignments

When an assignment aligns directly with one or more degree outcomes, make that explicit in the assignment instructions. If you use video or audio materials to convey information before class, mention any strongly aligning degree outcomes at the outset. This can help answer for students the question “Why this assignment?”

Faculty indicated that tagging outcomes on key assignments is moderate effort, moderate breadth, moderate depth, moderate frequency, and moderate reach.

Onboarding or Orientation Course

Moments when students view the major in its entirety—especially moments occurring early in the curriculum—are opportunities to explain the degree’s learning outcomes, particularly as this can reach all students in that course and familiarize them with all the degree outcomes. This is even better if students have a chance to see examples of advanced student work that satisfies the outcomes.

Faculty indicated that the strategy of an onboarding or orientation course is moderate effort, high breadth, moderate depth, low frequency, and high reach.

Capstone Course or Senior Seminar

These experiences are summative and typically either concurrent or imminently retrospective. “Here are the outcomes you’ve been working toward the last few years. Now, you’ll do some work that shows the extent to which you've achieved them.” This reaches only students who are at the finish line, and, while the experience may touch on any number of the outcomes, typically students do work toward most, if not all, of them.

Faculty indicated that housing DLOs in capstone courses or senior seminars is moderate effort, high breadth, high depth, low frequency, and high reach.

Exit Interview or Focus Group

Like a capstone or senior seminar, this reaches the subset of students who are completing the degree. Both interviews and focus groups are forms of “indirect assessment,” wherein students narrate their learning (as opposed to providing direct evidence of it, like handing in an assignment.) This can provide faculty an end-of-degree wide-lens snapshot of student awareness of the outcomes and student mastery of them.

Faculty colleagues indicate that making DLOs more visible by including them in exit interviews or focus groups is miderate effort, moderate breadth, moderate depth, low frequency, and moderate reach.

Embed in Student Surveys about Teaching

This can be done in a single course or—far better—in several courses across the curriculum. The latter allows for reinforcement for students, particularly as this may be a low-depth method. For faculty, it provides a window on growth for each year’s student cohort, if such structure exists. It also provides a student-voiced counterpoint to faculty notions of idealized progress through a curriculum, i.e., a curriculum map. How do students and faculty differ in their views of their progress toward outcomes?

Faculty indicate that increasing student awareness of DLOs by embedding them in course evaluations is moderate effort, moderate breadth, low depth, moderate frequency, and moderate reach.

Visual or Promotional Materials

Your imagination is the limit here. Put outcomes in brochures or palm cards for prospective students or on slide within a slide deck that cycles on a main lobby bulletin board. Create a booth for each outcome at degree fair. The general sentiment of colleagues is that such methods aren't particularly onerous to implement and have modest dividends across the board.

Faculty colleagues indicate that DLO visibility using visual or promotional materials is moderate effort, breadth, depth, frequency, and reach--all moderate.

Social Media Campaign or Profile

Increase awareness of outcomes by putting them where students pay attention. Colleagues indicated this may be a way to truly increase student exposure to degree outcomes (i.e., is high frequency.) If the department uses social media (most do at this point), mention any outcome that relates strongly to a department event, award, etc. This may pair well with badging or earning achievements (see below.)

Faculty colleagues indicate that increasing DLO visibility using social media campaigns or other profiles is moderate effort, moderate breadth, moderate depth, high frequency, and moderate reach.

Supplementary Canvas Site

Learning Management Systems such as Canvas can house degree-level outcomes in several places. Does the department have a Canvas landing page, where DLOs might live ? Is there a Canvas site for majors that has resources or other information about the program? Are there easy but meaningful ways to drop the degree outcomes into a department's course pages? Several scenarios are possible and not exclusive of one another. While this easily communicates all outcomes, student exposure may be low.

Faculty colleagues thought putting degree outcomes into Canvas sites was moderate effort, high breadth, low depth, low frequency, and low reach.

Undergraduate Research Symposia or Event

In these moments, students doing research demonstrate myriad skills, some of which may be linkable to degree-level outcomes. This can be made salient for students—both those doing the research and other students who may be invited to the event to see the work of their peers. Though implementing this requires extra time and care (effort), the pay-off may be a more authentic connection to outcomes (depth.)

Faculty colleagues thought making degree outcomes visible at undergraduate research symposia or other events was high effort, high breadth, high depth, low frequency, and moderate reach.

Badging or Earning Achievements

Physical or digital signifiers can be awarded to students at points of completion of or milestone progress toward outcomes. Think pins, stickers, certificates, digital badges, and more. These may be handed out in specific classes for specific assignments tied to outcomes, at annual award or graduation ceremonies, etc. and can address one, some, or all outcomes--not bad for potentially moderate effort.

Faculty colleagues indicate that making degree outcomes more visible through badging or achievement systems is moderate effort, high breadth, moderate depth, high frequency, and high reach.

Alumni Survey (retrospective)

As students radiate along different paths after graduating, to what extent do they feel they met their program’s outcomes? Their future work may inform their view of their level of skill or outcomes achievement at the time of graduation. Through alumni surveys (or focus groups), faculty can find out.

Faculty colleagues thought increased awareness of degree outcomes through alumni surveys is moderate effort, high breadth, moderate depth, low frequency, and moderate reach.

Next Steps

As faculty colleagues have suggested, each of these methods has its own strengths and weaknesses, a dozen methods are described here, and none of them are exclusive of the others—quite a bit to navigate. Not sure where to begin? For a thought partner, contact Drew Vartia or Josh Potter . Either would be happy to chat more about outcomes visibility and the strategies that might work best for you and your department.