Starting the Process

In 2004, the Division of Student Affairs embraced a campus-wide focus on assessing student transformative learning. In doing so the whole student, not just the academic facet of the student learning experience, became the hub of student assessment. UWF vowed to ensure students gained an understanding of and commitment to becoming engaged, lifelong learners and more effective citizens. Recreation and Sports Services volunteered to participate in the initial implementation of Student Learning Outcomes as a new means of assessing student learning.

In the spring of 2005, a committee comprised of students and professional staff led by Graduate Assistant Joanna Burns developed Recreation’s first set of Student Learning Outcomes. Fine tuning the assessment tools and methods occurred under the guidance and tutelage of Dr. Jim Hurd. This resulted in an inventory of 11 SLOs defined by 24 rubrics.

The First Workshop

Participation in the Planning and Assessment Workshop that fall assisted Recreation’s incorporation of SLO assessment into each fall and spring semester’s evaluation process.Staff trainings and retreats include educational sessions designed to illuminate the importance of self-examination, strategies for ongoing professional growth, personal development and how skills learned and utilized as a student employee transfer to real-life scenarios outside the university setting. Measurement, analysis, evaluation and modification of Student Learning Outcomes and Program Outcomes are now essentials in Recreation and Sport Services’ culture.

The First Measure

The rubrics were used to create self- and supervisor-scored performance scales for select student staff as a convenient, broad first measure of SLOs. Students would read each rubric and indicate which particular description best described their performance for the last semester. Their supervisor also completed the rubric for how they thought the student employee performed.

The First Results

In this first measure, points of merit included "safety", "learned through recreation", and "respect" measures. Points for improvement included "promptness", "communication", and "healthy behaviors". Results provided some interesting insights into perceptions of skills. For example, "healthy behaviors" were reported lower by the employee than by their supervisor. In other words, supervisors considered student employees to be healthy, but the students didn't think of themselves as healthy. "Promptness" was the reverse; supervisors ranked emlpoyees lower than employees reported themselves.

The Need for New Skills

While the data indicated some interesting results, there was little difference between the highest and lowest scores, and the measure focused on perceptions rather than objective date. This indicated the need for training on how to write more specific and meaningful SLOs.

Continue the overview with learning reconsidered...