As part of our College Student Personnel courses we were asked to chose an aspect of our assistanships/internships and go through the process of creating learning outcomes incorporating what we had been learning about how we learn. I chose to focus on the 16 week university credit career preparation course taught by myself and other professionals in my office. This is the presentation I presented to my peers and office staff. We have used some of my suggestions to develop new course structures and approaches for spring semester 2014.

1. Suzanna S Farner
Western Illinois University

2. Creating
Learning
OutcomesAssessment
Shaping the
Environment
Recognizing
Limitations
My
Understanding
of Learning
Choosing
an
Experience

4. U390: Career Preparation Course
U390 is upper division 8-week course provided
by the Career Development Center (CDC) that
targets juniors and seniors who are preparing for
the career after graduating Western Illinois
University. The curriculum focuses on the
job/graduate school search process and
preparing the materials necessary for a smooth
transition into the next chapter of our students
lives. Topics covered include and are not limited
to resume building, interview skills, and effective
job search skills and resources.

6. Guideline to Writing Learning
Outcomes
1. Ask your self: “What do you want the participants
in this experience to learn?”
2. Collect Feedback from any Participants that are
influenced or have influence in the experience
(**Don’t forget to include all the participants**)
3. Organize feedback into major themes or topics for
learning
4. Write and analyze learning outcomes on
components and the dimensions of development.
5. Repeat Step 4 about 7 times or until you feel you
have a comprehensive list of learning outcomes

7. Collecting Feedback
Who are the active and influential participants in
the U390 experience?
• Students of U390
• Instructors of U390 (past and present)
• Career Development Center Professional Staff
• Employers
• Mission Statement

8. Our Mission
The mission of the Career Development Center
(CDC) in 125 Memorial Hall is to support student
and alumni by providing comprehensive services to
educating individuals on how to create and achieve
their personal career goals through career planning
and preparation. The CDC empowers students for a
successful transition between college and
professional careers through individual
appointments, workshops, and partnerships with
employers and faculty/staff at WIU. In support of
the mission of the university, we strive to prepare
students to "thrive in and contribute to our global
society."

10. Feedback Themes
The major themes for learning that I identified in the
feedback were:
• Goal Setting/How to Use it
• Understanding “You” / Personal Professional
Development
• Resume, Cover Letter, and References
• Non-verbal Representation
• How to Represent Yourself/Networking
• Job Searching
• Interviewing
• Professionalism
• College Job Transition

11. Building a Learning Outcome:
Components
The students of U390 will identify * and utilize*
the actions steps of goal setting to create*
their own professional and personal goals
* Comprehension, Application, Synthesis
KEY
Audience
Action
Degree*
Condition

12. Building a Learning Outcome:
Dimensions
The students of U390 will identify and utilize
the actions steps of goal setting to create their
own professional and personal goals
KEY
Cognitive: Memorization (Identify) to using their
experience (Create their own)
Intrapersonal: What do the students believe they need
to achieve based on their internal belief and values
system
Interpersonal: How they see themselves in relation to
their professional identity and in relation to the
expectations of their chosen careers

13. My Learning Outcomes
The Students of U390 will:
1. Identify and utilize the actions steps of goal setting to create their own
professional and personal goals
2. Share their experiences, extrapolate their current skills, and apply them
to their lifelong career development.
3. Create professional resume, cover letter, and references and explain the
purpose of each document in the job search process
4. Summarize appropriate online etiquette and use them to modify their
electronic identity through email, social media, and online networking.
5. Classify the different settings of networking and define the importance
of building connections in career development.
6. Explore their professional interests by analyzing various functional
careers and reflecting on their career development through their
experiences.
7. Recognize and demonstrate confidence in responding to the different
types of questions in professional/career-based interviewing.

15. How Do I Shape the Environment to
be Learning- Centered?
What is my understanding of
Learning???

17. The Nature Of Learning
1) “Learning does not proceed in a linear way but stops and
starts, reversals and breakthroughs” (Zull, 2002, p. 235)
LIKE A WEB!!!
(Yay! for intentional graphic design themes)
2) “If indeed learning begins through sensory experiences, then
the teacher is in a trap. Anything she does can produce
learning, because it is a sensory experience” (Zull, 2002, p.20)
Learning happens everywhere.
3) “Self is central to knowledge construction” (Baxter
Magolda, 2004)
Knowledge is not transferred -it is created by each individual in
the learning experience.

18. What is Needed for Learning to
Happen?
1) Abstract  Concrete
2) Ownership of Learning
3) Emotion
4)Motion
5) Prior Knowledge
6) Patterns & Repetition
7) Mutual Construction of
Knowledge
8) Action
(Zull, 2002; Baxter Magolda, 2004)

19. My Teaching Traps
How have I been taught? What are my
experiences with teachers and learning?
• Banking-Method: Students come to us empty
• “wrong” experiences vs “incomplete”
experiences (Zull, 2002, p.123)
• Preparing for the subject vs preparing for the
students
• Emotion inhibits learning
“ We start where we are not where they are”
(Zull,2002, p.103)

21. How Do I Shape the Environment to
be Learning- Centered?
Major environmental themes I would like to
incorporate into the U390 experience:
1) Challenge and Support
2) Push vs Pull
3) Mutual Construction of and Shared Authority
in Learning
4) Creating Connections

22. Helpful Diagrams
(Baxter Magolda, 2004; Zull, 2002)

23. Strategies to Shape the Environment
1) Learning Bucket List: Work with the students to
create a list of what they want to learn in their career
preparation process.
2) Reflection Packet: This tool can be used to challenge the
students of U390 to continuously reflect one their
concrete experiences and apply it to concepts discussed
in class
3) Share about myself: As instructor there are many ways
that me sharing about myself can influence the
environment
4) Exploring language: In our course we use a lot of
“common terms” for career preparation and asking the
students to define it for themselves can incorporate
active testing and their own meaning making

24. Strategies to Shape the Environment
Continued
5) Focuses on the process not the answers:
Spending more time focusing on how the
students are understanding key concepts will
facilitate and emphasize making connections
and not answers.
6) Incorporating “motion” into my teaching:
Exploring different venues for learning

26. How to Asses Learning
Formative:
• Reflection Packet
• Revisiting the Learning Bucket List Every Class
Summative:
• Final Reflection
• First Job Paper
• Course Evaluation

28. Limitations
1) Time
2) Resources
3) Learning is a lifelong process and like many
things this is only the beginning of my
understanding of learning outcomes

29. ?
Questions?

30. References
Baxter Magolda, M.B. (2004). Learning partnership
model:Aframework for promoting self- authorship.
In M.B.BaxterMagolda&P.M. King (Eds), Learning
Partnerships:Theory and models of practice to
educate for self-authorship. (pp. 37-62). Sterling,
VA: Stylus Publishing.
Kegan, R., &Lahey, L, L. (2001). Seven languages of
transformation: How the way we talk can change
the way we work. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Zull, J. E. (2002). The art of changing the brain.
Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.