program learning outcomes

Definition

The overarching competencies students should demonstrate upon completing an entire degree program, distinguishing them from mere course-level outcomes. The grand promises institutions make to accreditors about what graduates can do.

Example Usage

Our program learning outcomes state graduates will 'demonstrate critical thinking,' a claim we assess through rubrics that somehow quantify the unquantifiable.

Origin

Emerged from outcomes-based accreditation requirements in the 1990s-2000s

Fun Fact

Institutions spend countless hours mapping how individual courses connect to program learning outcomes, creating massive spreadsheets called 'curriculum maps' that nobody actually consults.

Source: Accreditation and assessment requirements

Related Terms

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lecture

An academic tradition where one person talks at a group for an extended period, theoretically imparting knowledge but often inducing naptime. This formal exposition can refer to the actual talk or the regularly scheduled class session built around someone's monologue. It's higher education's stubborn insistence that medieval teaching methods totally work in the smartphone era.

🎓 Education / Academia

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teaching assistant

Graduate students who do the actual grading and teaching in large university courses while the professor's name appears on the syllabus. They're the unsung heroes of undergraduate education, compensated primarily in experience and poverty.

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graduate assistant

A graduate student who receives tuition remission and a stipend in exchange for teaching, research, or administrative duties—essentially academic apprenticeship disguised as financial aid. Cheap labor meets professional development.

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212°

The temperature at which water boils at sea level, memorialized in Fahrenheit for those of us who still measure heat like it's 1776. It's the magic number that turns your pasta water bubbly and your tea kettle screamy. Science class survivors will recognize this as one of the few facts they retained after graduation.

🎓 Education / Academia

Intermediate

symposium

An academic conference where experts gather to present papers, share research, and engage in scholarly discussion about a specific topic, descended from Ancient Greek drinking parties with philosophical debates. The modern version typically features less wine and more PowerPoint presentations. What happens when you combine networking, knowledge-sharing, and terrible conference center coffee.

🎓 Education / Academia

Advanced

Pedagogy

The art and science of teaching, or more accurately, the art of talking about teaching using words that make teaching sound much harder than it already is. If you can explain pedagogy without using the word pedagogy, you might actually be a good pedagogue.

🎓 Education / Academia

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