About Outcomes

MiraCosta College Core Competencies

The MCC Core Competencies describe the broad general education learning outcomes students should have gained when completing transfer preparation (60 units including CSU or IGETC general education) or a degree, and through their exposure to different support and enrichment programs and services. Courses and programs map/align to these larger outcomes, and students gain exposure to some, but not necessarily all of them, from educational experiences that don’t encompass completion of a degree or transfer pattern. These statements were adapted from the “LEAP” Outcomes (Liberal Education and America’s Promise) developed under the auspices of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. The MiraCosta College Core Competencies were approved by the College Council on March 9, 2017.

Upon commencement of studies and progressing toward the completion of an educational goal, MiraCosta College students prepare for twenty-first century challenges by gaining:

Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World

Attained through general education and major study in the sciences and mathematics, social and behavioral sciences, humanities, histories, languages, and the arts

Informed by awareness of global issues and trends, focused by engagement with big questions, both contemporary and enduring

Intellectual and Practical Skills, including

Inquiry, analysis and independent thinking
Critical and creative thinking
Quantitative literacy and problem solving
Information literacy
Written and oral communication skills
Integration of knowledge

Practiced extensively across the curriculum in the context of progressively more challenging problems, projects, and standards for performance

Personal and Social Responsibility and Efficacy, including

Civic knowledge and engagement - local and global
Intercultural competence and respect for diverse perspectives
Teamwork and collaborative skills
Ethical reasoning and action
Goal-setting / project-planning and completion
Skills for ongoing personal, academic, and professional growth

Anchored in applied learning through active involvement with real world challenges and diverse environmental, workplace, cultural, and community contexts.

Course Student Learning Outcomes (CSLOs)

Course SLOs and SLO assessments are developed and evaluated in a collaborative effort by instructors teaching a specific course. The instructors are the experts in terms of information on the needs of the students, instruction, skill development, and practical application of concepts learned. The course SLOs are vetted and established by the department. Conclusions based upon assessment evaluation data leads to constant and consistent improvement of curricula, pedagogical skills, and student services that assist in achieving those outcomes in the course. The SLOs are developed and assessed by discipline experts in each department. They emphasize student abilities gained through learning and applying the course objectives. Assessment tools should allow students to demonstrate higher level thinking. For example, a math assessment item which requires a student to create a model, perform the relevant operations, and arrive at a conclusion about the validity of the model attains Level VI in Blooms Taxonomy, whereas an item which merely has the student identify an operation only attains Level I. Please see the Faculty Resource page for links to Action Words for Bloom's Taxonomy and Charts of Revised and Original Taxonomy for information relating to vocabulary and question phrasing which is useful for SLO wording and the framing of SLO assessment items.

Program Student Learning Outcomes (PSLOs)

MiraCosta College Program definition for purposes of outcomes assessment:
MCC utilizes the Title 5 §55000(g) definition which states that a “Program” is defined as a cohesive set of courses that result in a certificate or degree (ASCC, 2010).

Please note that in MCC Institutional Program Review programs may:

include courses in a specific discipline.
Refer to student service programs and administrative units.
be made up of “pre-collegiate or remedial courses, particularly in English or mathematics” (Bers, n.d.). This could also include such course sequences as our Allied Health track in Biology.
Refer to special programs, such as Honors programs, Service Learning programs, and types of grant-funded programs
for students (Bers, n.d.).

Where does your department place?
If your department offers a degree or certificate, you will create and assess a PSLO, enter the results into TracDat, and reflect upon these results in program review. If your department does not offer a degree or certificate, you have the opportunity to reflect on the Liberal Arts PSLO assessment results in the appropriate area of emphasis as relates to your specific discipline courses in program review. Program review also provides the opportunity to reflect on course level SLOs. In summary, all departments reflect upon PSLO assessment results in program review; only departments that offer degrees and/or certificates create and assess a PSLO, and enter the results into TracDat.

Program SLO (PSLO) assessments are developed in a collaborative effort by the faculty of departments whose courses contribute to the core of a degree or certificate of achievement. PSLOs measure students’ abilities in outcomes which are rated as a 4 or 5 in GE or CTE areas based on evaluation of core courses that contribute to a certificate of achievement or degree. Assessments may be administered at the course level as long as there is departmental dialogue regarding how the course level assessment contributes to the program. Competency at the course level does not imply competency at the program level. If CSLO assessments are utilized to assess PSLOs, associate and full-time faculty department members need to engage in dialogue regarding how the CSLO assessment items which were used affect and/or contribute to program growth and/or demonstrate program needs. Program specific assessment tools should provide a framework for students to demonstrate higher order thinking at the program level. For example, a portfolio in a capstone course provides students to demonstrate breadth of knowledge and expertise as a result of a series of related courses.