Dissecting Evidence of Learning by Uncovering the Meaning of the What Questions in our Courses

This conversation builds on the simple SoTL question What works? It is also illuminated by the legacy of the conversations sparked during the Middle States on-site visit revolving around the reviewer’s question How do you know what students know? Rooted in the evaluators’ interest to foster an inquiry approach to our teaching and learning, the SoTL group wants to discuss the following questions as we imagine pedagogy for the next academic year:
1. What represents evidence of student learning in your course?
2. Are we able to dissect what students are learning in our courses?
3. Do they learn what we proposed in the syllabus?

Ground rule: Rather than engaging in a philosophical definition of learning, we define learning for the context of this presentation as the specific disciplinary knowledge and skills stated in our syllabus, delineated through stated expectations (such as anticipated course-, Pathways-, or program-learning outcomes).