Outcome Mapping
Outcomes entered into Planning & Self-Study can be mapped to outcomes created by other organizations that fall on higher or lower levels of the hierarchy.
In other words, a Program may create its own set of Program Learning Outcomes. The Department that the Program falls under would likely have its own Department-level outcomes, just as the College that the Department sits under and the entire University may have their own outcomes.
Outcome Mapping allows for all of this to be tied together. A Program can align its outcomes to those of its parent Department, and the Department can illustrate how its own outcomes align with the College and/or University.
Additionally, Courses in Planning & Self Study can create their own Course-level outcomes, which can be mapped to all other levels in the same manner.
Accessing Outcomes as a Lead
Upon logging into Planning & Self Study, a Lead would land on their homepage, which contains dashboards for each organization, such as a program, that they have been assigned to as Lead.
There will be a single dashboard for each organization the user is assigned to. Each dashboard will contain links to assessment plans, program reviews, and other initiatives the the organization is included in.
To begin mapping Outcomes, select "Enter Program" to the right of the dashboard. (Note: This may also say "Enter Department" or other terms depending on the actual level of the organization).
Accessing Outcomes as an Administrator
As Administrators typically assume view and edit permissions over all or a subset of the hierarchy, they are usually not assigned as Leads to areas, as general users at the university would be. Therefore, they would not access outcomes through the homepage, but rather, via the steps below:
- Upon logging in, select "Organization Management" on the left-hand side of the homepage
- Select the name of the relevant Organization. This will produce the same area that Contributors see when following the steps described above.
To Begin Mapping Outcomes
- Once in the Organizational area, select "Program Information" on the left. (Note: This may also say "Department Information" or other terms depending on the actual level of the organization).
This will produce a page from where Outcomes can be created and managed. Select "Edit Outcome Map" to begin mapping Outcomes.
Selecting Outcomes and Organizations
Once the Outcome Map is on screen, the user would identify their own Organizational Outcomes on the left-hand side of the map.
To ensure that all Outcomes are included, or to remove select Outcomes from the map, select the pencil icon at the top of the map.
Across the top of the matrix from left to right are the organizations of the institution’s hierarchy in which the selected organization is nested. The left-most organization is the institutional level of the hierarchy, where the institution-wide outcomes will be documented.
If select Organizations need to be removed from the map, this can be done by selecting the pencil icon to the right of "Organizations".
This will produce a window in which Organizations can be selected for inclusion or exclusion.
Mapping Outcomes
To align one of an organization’s outcomes to the outcomes created in one of the organizations listed across the top of this matrix, click on the cell where that outcome intersects with an organization.
This will open a new panel to the right of the map, containing the outcome set for the selected organization.
Outcomes created at the institutional level which have been identified as General Education outcomes will have a Gen Ed label next to them.
To align the outcomes, select the checkbox for any outcome that requires mapping to the corresponding outcome on the map.
When outcomes are mapped, the corresponding cell on the Outcome Map will display a checkmark to signify the alignment.
Once finished and all required outcome mappings have been created, be sure to select the "Update" icon in the top-right of the Outcome Map.
Please note that if the page is closed before clicking Update, any mappings that were created would not be saved.
Once "Update" is selected, the user will be returned to the Information tab of the Organization Profile, where they would see the number of connections each of the organization’s outcomes has.