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Developing learning outcomes.

Article Excerpt
There appears to be a shift in the emphasis by the Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology (JRCERT) toward aggregating, reporting and using learning outcomes in radiography and radiation therapy education to make programmatic improvements. This article is a case study on the process of developing a departmental system to improve the standardization of learning outcome usage.

The department of radiologic sciences at Armstrong Atlantic State University offers a baccalaureate-level degree for programs in radiography, nuclear medicine, radiation therapy, sonography and cardiovascular-interventional sciences. The department also offers an online degree completion program for practitioners seeking a baccalaureate degree. In the department, individual faculty members historically have been responsible for developing and measuring learning outcomes in each course. The department also has a well-developed programmatic assessment plan that has been in place for several years. During a review of the department's assessment process, it became apparent that the process was focused primarily on programmatic outcomes. Although learning outcome assessment was occurring, there was little integration between this process and programmatic outcome assessment. The faculty decided to enhance the assessment process by incorporating a more systematic use of learning outcomes across the 5 programs.

Literature Review

There is very little literature in the field of radiologic science on the differences between a learning outcome and a programmatic outcome. There is literature in other disciplines on this topic. Even after years of assessment development, few institutions possess a culture of assessment that reflects an institution-wide commitment to systematic collection, analysis and use of data. This systematic approach often is not used because of a lack of consensus in the literature and confusion about the definition of terms. (1,2)

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