The process of passing assigned connections through Academic Programs will be slightly different compared to assigning connection in non-academic program units. Please note, this only applies to outcomes that are assigned to an Academic Program. This does not apply to outcomes in an Academic Program that the program will write itself and then assess or connect. Please follow normal connection procedures for this.
Start by selecting and clicking on the appropriate learning outcome that you want to measure.
- In this example, I am going to measure ILO 1 quantitative Reasoning for Academic Affairs.
Select the appropriate term in which you want to conduct the assessment and measurement. You can also do this in the term drop down menu.
- In this example, I am measuring ILO 1 in the Spring 2016 term.
Select Connection and select Assign.
From the Connections Window, you may select the appropriate organizational units by selecting the Plus Sign next to the Academic Program you want to assign the learning outcome to. Academic Programs will be designated with a P icon to the left of their title in the Connections Window.
- In this example, I created an assigned Connection for ILO 1 Quantitative Reasoning from the College of Business to an Academic Program, AP Name 12.
The selected Academic Program file will appear in the assignment chain. If the assignment chain looks correct, select Save.
When assigning to an Academic Program, you will not have the option in the Connections Window to assign connections through the Academic Program to the courses. To further, work on the connection, you will need to navigate the Academic Program using the organizational chart and look for the outcome in the Pending Connections tab in the Context Panel on the right side of your screen. Select the learning outcome.
If you want to assess the assigned learning outcome at the program level, select Assess. If you want to create connections to the courses contained in the Academic Program, select Connect. Once you do that, you will be presented with three options.
Create PLO and Assign: Use this option if you want to assign the connection down to the courses contained in Academic Program. Outcomes will need to do a few things to properly create the connection.
When you select this option, you will be brought to the Connections Window where you will be able to assign the outcome to the courses contained in the Academic Program. You can follow standard assigned connections procedures for this. Make sure to Save any connections.
You will see something slightly different visually, once the assigned connections have been made. The outcome will clone itself automatically and designate this clone with the tag PLO. You will see this PLO tag below the outcome statement.
Outcomes will automatically create a related connection between the original and the clone.
The assignments will actually occur between the clone outcome and the courses. Once data is entered at the course level, it will passed up through all the connection to produce your aggregate reports.
Any course acting as the assignment chain end point will then have to go and choose to assess the outcome. Data will be passed up through all the connection.
Relating Connections in Academic Programs
There are two options to relate outcomes in Academic Programs when an Outcome has been assigned to the Academic Program. Use Create PLO and Relate when you know you will be relating outcomes but those outcomes do not yet exist. Use Relate when the learning outcomes you will be relating to already exist.
Create PLO and Relate: If the outcomes that you want to relate the assigned connection in the Academic Program do not yet exist, you can still take several steps to make the process quicker and easier for when you do have something to relate to.
Once you select Create PLO and Relate you will be brought to the Connections Window.
Since the outcome you want to relate to does not yet exist, select Cancel in the Related Preview widow located at the bottom of the page.
Once the related outcomes exist, navigate back to the PLO.
You will see something slightly different visually, once you navigate back to the Academic Program. The outcome will clone itself automatically and mark the clone as a PLO. You will see this PLO tag below the outcome statement.
Outcomes will automatically create a related connection between the original and the clone.
Once the new outcomes have been created, open the cloned PLO (marked with the tag PLO below the outcome statement), select Edit Connections. This will bring you to the related connections Window where you can follow normal procedure for related connections.
Relate: If the outcomes you want to relate to already exist, select Relate and follow standard procedure for relating outcomes.