The study was designed to determine how learner outcomes, one
aspect of a comprehensive assessment plan at an urban community college
in the Northwest, may have influenced professional practice. Research
subjects were selected from a group of forty-four faculty who participated in
a college sponsored professional development activity. The purpose of this
activity was to provide resources for faculty to develop curriculum from a
learner outcomes perspective. The researcher was interested in how the
adoption of learner outcomes may have influenced pedagogical methods,
instructional content, classroom assessment, or other aspects of
professional practice.
Research participants responded to open-ended interview questions
administered by the researcher. The shared phenomenon being
investigated was the experience of community college faculty who were
directly involved with transforming instructional objectives to learner
outcomes and/or assisting other faculty with the conversion. Data were
analyzed following a five-step process based on phenomenological
research methods. Five themes were evident in the data: 1) importance of
the process (writing outcomes and designing curriculum); 2) changes in
classroom instruction; 3) classroom assessment modifications; 4) the
integrative nature of the experience; and 5) changes in the classroom
experience for students. The data indicated that participants shared two
common experiences--writing outcomes and changing the syllabi as a
result of incorporating learner outcomes.
The findings indicated that learner outcomes influenced professional
practice. However, the degree of influence was not at the same level of
intensity for all participants and the degree of influence was not related to
the number of years a participant had been teaching. Experienced faculty
with twenty or more years of experience were distributed among three
subgroups which denoted the degree of influence on professional practice
or the amount of change evident from lower to higher levels of intensity. / Graduation date: 2003
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/31492 |
| Date | 22 July 2002 |
| Creators | Davis, Marilyn Ellen |
| Contributors | Duvall, Betty |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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