Implementing the Degree Qualifications Profile (DQP) in Community Colleges

1. Implementing the Degree Qualifications Profile (DQP) in Community Colleges Strengthening Student Success Conference Wednesday, October 9, 2013 SFO Marriott

2. A Public Discussion:The Value of a Degree “In the national political dialog, value [of higher education] is equal to quality over cost.” Terry Hartle, American Council on Education (ACE)

3. A Public Discussion:The Value of a Degree “Value metrics include student loan default and repayment rates, student progression and completion, operating costs per degree, employment rates, and student learning outcomes. What isn’t readily available is data in usable form related to student learning.” Michael Offerman, Transparency by Design

4. A Public Discussion:student achievement and learning Completion Agenda

5. The completion agenda: mobility as a factor • 1/4 of students are in a school different from where they were the previous fall. • 1/3 of all students change institutions at some time before earning a degree. • About 60% of students who transfer from community college complete at least a bachelor’s degree within four years. • For students who transfer with an AA degree, that number jumps to over 71%.

6. College Status Report on SLO Implementation Ten years after the adoption of a stronger emphasis in student learning in accreditation standards, 2012-2013 Status Reports on SLO Implementationwere requested of all member colleges by the ACCJC.

7. What we learned • All accredited community colleges in the Western Region are active with student learning outcomes. • About half of member institutions have ongoing assessment in 95% or more of programs. • Over 85% of member institutions have ongoing assessment of all institutional learning outcomes.

8. Challenges Discovered • 20% of colleges are not engaged in ongoing assessment of courses or programs at a meaningful level. • Over 10% of colleges do not have significant levels of assessment ongoing for institutional learning outcomes. • More than 10% of colleges are not fully engaged in assessment of student and learning support services.

9. Two Issues– Across all levels of SLO implementation • Alignment of outcomes, course-to-program/degree-to-institutional, does not correlate with better overall performance in student learning outcomes assessment. • Student awareness and student decision-making from SLOs is not yet a significant part of SLO practice.

10. Exploring the DQP for alignment of associate degree-level student learning outcomes As a means to: • Revisit the alignment of outcomes across programs • Examine ways to enhance the student experience, pathways, and success • Achieve greater levels of program completion • Support innovation in the classroom and in programs

11. Degree Qualifications Profile • One of several strategies for addressing the call to increase quality degree completions nationally. • A framework to help create understanding of the value of a degree. • An intentional focus on student learning as the measure for valuing the degree. • A means for establishing both the common and the unique elements of a college’s offering within a shared vocabulary.

12. Degree Qualifications Profile • Categorizes degree-level student learning outcomes into five categories of learning. • Identifies student learning outcomes in these categories at the associate, bachelor’s and master’s degree levels. • The outcomes are not detailed from the perspective of specific disciplines; this is to happen as the DQP is used for creating a particular degree profile.

13. The Five Categories of Learning“The 5 plus 1” Two types of knowledge: specialized, and broad/integrative. • Specialized: depth of study within a particular area or field, to permit students to learn and achieve mastery. • Broad/integrative: breadth of study, to provide students with learning about relationships between fields of study and foundations of knowledge.

14. The Five Categories of Learning Intellectual Skills, skills which enable the other realms of learning: • Analytic inquiry • Use of information resources • Engaging diverse perspectives • Quantitative fluency • Communication fluency

15. The Five Categories of Learning Applied learning, what graduates can do with what they know: • knowledge and skills from coursework appliedin non-academic settings • application of learning from external experiences to work within the academic setting

16. The Five Categories of Learning Civic learning: related to knowledge of, and commitment to action within a community context. [Awareness of self as a member in society.]

17. A Possible Sixth Category Institution-specific area: As appropriate, that unique (or uniquely important) aspect of learning all degree earners attain by studying at your particular institution.

18. Why the DQP? • The framework can move conversation beyond process and format to “the real discussions” more quickly. • It provides a means for identifying possible gaps in existing degree level outcomes. • The categories of learning and levels of outcomes offer examination and comparison outside the department and college.

19. NILOA Dashboards: Uses of the DQP

20. NILOA Dashboards

21. NILOA Dashboards: Degree Level

22. DQP Vision of Assessment • Integral to teaching and learning, not an add-on “exo-skeleton” • Focuses on what students can do – action verbs • For all students, not just a sample • Cumulative and connected

23. Faculty and Assessment • Faculty must drive assessment • Validate competence through assignments: • lab specifications • test questions • performance protocols • exhibit instructions • field work questions • paper topics with rubrics

24. Aligning Associate Degree-level Outcomes to the Degree Qualifications Profile

25. Common Questions or Concernsabout DQP Alignment • Why do this again? We already have degree outcomes. • What exactly are we aligning? The whole degree? • What is the intended audience of this work? • How will this activity improve a student’s experience in our program/at our college? • Is there an quick how-to example?

26. An Alignment Product: The Degree Specification (Dqpp.org)

27. Elements of the Degree Specification

28. Community Colleges and the DQP • 93 Associate Degree granting institutions are engaged with the DQP • Most focus on specific programs and pathways to transfer • Working in partnership with four-year institutions or employer advisory groups • Sharing assignments and data

29. Interesting Examples • Kansas City Kansas Community College • Lane Community College • New Mexico Junior College • Middlesex Community College • Central Wyoming College

30. LESSONS LEARNED- • DQP is a conversation starter: offers a common vocabulary for talking about outcomes • Are we working with the right outcomes? • Curricular mapping with assessment in mind: Where are students mastering these competencies? Where are the gaps? • Certify transfers, align and “streamline” systems • Doing assessment right is a continuing perennial challenge • Faculty engagement and ownership are essential and these take time

31. Some Projects in our RegionACCJC’s DQP Project DQPP.org

32. Pasadena City Copper Mountain Gavilan Improving Understanding Of Associate Degrees The DQP & ABET Cerritos Marshall Islands Grossmont Aligning CTE Programs MiraCosta Mission Kapi’olani Gen Ed Across the Curriculum

33. Riverside CC Aligning Program Outcomes Shasta Strengthening University Studies degree Santa Rosa West Hills Strengthening Student Progression Mapping Learning Outcomes to the DQP Sacramento City Saddleback

34. NILOA – SLO and DQP Resource • National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA)’s mission is to discover and disseminate effective use of assessment data to strengthen undergraduate education and support institutions in their assessment efforts. • http://learningoutcomesassessment.org/

35. NILOA’s DQP Corner Website: http://www.learningoutcomesassessment.org/DQPCorner.html

36. ACCJC 10 Commercial Blvd., Suite 204 Novato, CA 94949 415-506-0234 (FAX) 415-506-0238 Website: www.accjc.org Email: accjc@accjc.org Thank you!