COR & SLO

Did you know that anyone can view a course outline of record at Palomar's CurricUnet, no username or password required? All you need to do is click on "Course" under the heading of "Search"--not "CurriUSEARCH"--near the upper-left corner of the screen. You will then select a discipline* and enter either the number or the title of the course you are looking for before hitting the "OK" button. The next screen will allow you to click a couple icons and view a COR (course outline report) and an SLO (student learning outcome) document.

*CurricUnet arranges four disciplines for our dept.

1. English as a Second Language (ESL) -- for all credit courses
2. Adult Basic Education (N ABED) -- for all INEA courses
3. Citizenship (N CTZN)
4. English as a Second Language (N ESL) -- for all other non-credit courses

To meet new Title 5 regulations, the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has recently published a 96-page paper called "The Course Outline of Record: A Curriculum Reference Guide," which introduces a new way of writing or revising a COR from now on.

From pages 5 and 6 of the Senate publication:

A course outline of record needs to be integrated. At the most fundamental level “integration” occurs when each element of the course outline of record reinforces the purpose of the other elements in the course outline. There should be an obvious relationship between the objectives of the course, the methods of instruction, assignments, and methods of evaluation used to promote and evaluate student mastery of those objectives.

At the onset, every course should be developed with a purpose or goal in mind. The course must have sufficient and appropriate learning objectives such that any student achieving these objectives will fulfill the intended purpose of the course. The course content items then define the elements of information, behavior, or capabilities for each objective to be mastered. Each content item and objective is then reflected in comprehensive assignments or lessons, which are taught using appropriate and effective methods. Finally, in the integrated course outline of record, the methods for evaluation of student performance validate the acquisition and mastery of each content item and the attainment of each objective. Also note that content is the only subject-based element; the others specifically focus on what the student will be doing.

Not only should a new COR be worded in an integrated way, but there is now request for "types or examples of assignments, instructional methodologies, and methods of evaluation."

With 1/3 of our course offerings needing to have SLOs done this academic year in the face of accreditation, we can actually become more informed and effective in what we are being asked to do, thanks to the Senate publication.

By the way, to meet accreditation standards, all new and revised CORs will require an accompanying document listing an identification of student learning outcomes and a description of the methods of assessment used to measure those outcomes (qualitative and/or quantitative, measurable and/or observable). This SLO material will be submitted via CurricUnet along with the COR, but it will not appear on the COR itself. Hence the two separate icons on the CurricUnet page, remember?