Taking Learning Outcomes to the Gym An Assignment-Based Approach to Developing and Assessing Learning Outcomes

Research Summary: Lessons from the gym: Linking assignments to learning outcomes strengthens core skills Can learning technology “workouts” both develop and assess cognitive skills?  Using a muscle-building analogy, the authors of a new study from the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) find evidence that students can strengthen their self-reflective and critical thinking skills […]

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Harvey P. Weingarten – Managing for Quality: Classifying Learning Outcomes

My previous contributions on “managing for quality” have addressed the challenges of shifting away from our current policy of managing for access and why learning outcomes is a game changer in the higher education world.   To use learning outcomes productively to improve higher education, and to clear up some of the confusion in the current […]

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Harvey P. Weingarten – Learning outcomes: The game changer in higher education

This is the first in a blog series on HEQCO’s key research priorities, in which we share the what, the why and the where-to next. Focussing on quality, particularly through the lens of learning outcomes, is a game changer in higher education because it influences the way we design, deliver, evaluate and improve academic programs; […]

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Colleen M. Hanycz – Outcomes-based learning: Articulating the fruits of a liberal arts education

Traditionally the bailiwick of our colleges, designing and measuring learning against a set of established competencies is gaining momentum in less familiar places. There is growing recognition that the fruits of a liberal arts education are unrecognized by graduates and unarticulated to potential employers and the broader society.  Students completing a degree in history, as […]

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Fiona Deller – Hard lesson on soft skills and other learnings from HEQCO’s conference

Academics, policy-makers and pundits have long been using the term “soft skills” – a lot longer than they’ve been using that other labour market favourite: skills gap. But if various panels at HEQCO’s recent conference: Rethinking higher ed: Beyond {the buzzwords}, couldn’t agree on whether there is a skills gap, there was wide and vocal […]

@ Issue Paper No. 16 Making the Grade? Troubling Trends in Postsecondary Student Literacy

Research Summary: Troubling Trends in Postsecondary Student Literacy Ontario students headed to college or university might not have the literacy skills they need to be successful, according to a new report from the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO). “The timing is especially problematic given that strong literacy skills are critical to students as […]

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Harvey P. Weingarten – Removing the confusion from the skills gap discussion

I have been reading and hearing a lot about the “skills gap” in Canada, particularly the suggestion of significant shortages of people with the skill set to fulfill the jobs available in today’s labour markets.  This discussion is often accompanied by commentary about the misalignment between what students learn in postsecondary programs and the requirements […]

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Harvey P. Weingarten – Learning outcomes: Lessons learned and the next big thing

After two years of work on a series of projects to investigate the feasibility and value of a learning outcomes perspective in higher education, we have learned some important lessons about this game-changing approach. First, the most promising aspect is the identification and measurement of general learning and cognitive skills such as critical thinking, problem […]

Provincial government must adopt more active role in system planning

Ontario College and University Strategic Mandate Agreements Government must play a more active, assertive and purposeful role to drive system-level planning and change, according to an Expert Panel convened by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) that reviewed Strategic Mandate Agreement submissions from Ontario’s 44 public colleges and universities.  The Panel’s report, Quality: Shifting […]