Student-made video about initiative highlighted at education summit
A student video produced by Brigham Young University students detailing Student Expected Learning Outcomes was featured in a "Best Practices" Showcase at the July 2008 Higher Education Summit in Chicago.
Narrated by BYUSA leaders and featuring BYU students, the 14-minute piece serves as an orientation to student Learning Outcomes - the skills, knowledge, attitudes and experiences students should obtain in their chosen BYU degree program.
"The more I learned about Learning Outcomes, the more I realized how valuable they are," said Joe Wilson, the student editor on the video.
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings spoke at the summit and encouraged universities and colleges across the country to "become more agile, transparent and student-centered," according to her prepared remarks.
Also featured in the BYU Showcase presentation was the university's learningoutcomes.byu.edu wiki-site. The BYU Learning Outcomes Wiki has recorded over 272,000 page hits by some 54,000 unique visitors from every time zone across the globe.
The wiki provides cost-effective, campus-wide, full and transparent access for students and faculty to put students at the center of student learning outcomes.
"The Learning Outcomes site provides a place for students or faculty or any interested observer to be able to make comments on the nature, on the intelligibility, on the attractiveness of those particular outcomes," said John R. Rosenberg, dean of the BYU College of Humanities, in the video.
Added BYU College of Nursing Dean Beth Cole: "It's very important for the learning outcomes to be spelled out clearly to the students early on their program so they know what's expected of them as the proceed through the program towards graduation."
Writer: Chris Giovarelli
