TracDat Manual East Los Angeles College

Amanda Ryan-Romo Mona Panchal

Table of Contents

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..2

Display Home Page ………………………………………………………………………................................... 3

How To Add an SLO to a Course …………………………………………………………………………….. 4-5

How to Link an SLO to Related Competencies/Goals (ELAC’s Core Competencies) …... 6-7

How to Add an Assessment Method ……………………………………………………………………… 8-10

How to Input Assessment Results …………………………………………………………………………. 11-12

SLO Cycle Status Defined ………………………………………………………………………………….........13

How to Input Use of Results …………………………………………………………………………………. 14

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Introduction

The SLO Committee at East Los Angeles College is pleased to introduce TracDat (http://tracdat.elac.edu/), software that will enable our campus to participate in the SLO process electronically. TracDat will allow us to store and aggregate data online. This software will also enable us to link SLOs to our college Core Competencies to look for larger trends in learning outcomes, so we can open dialogue across the campus on ways to increase student success.

An added benefit of TracDat is that it provides an electronic repository for any documents tied to the SLO process. Rather than keeping paper copies of spreadsheets or documents, these can simply be attached to the department’s TracDat homepage or to a specific SLO.

The following manual is a basic introduction and should guide you through the entire process from inputting an SLO to inputting use of results. As you familiarize yourself with TracDat, you will notice other applications that have not been mentioned in this manual, e.g. assignments or reporting. Further instructions for such applications will follow. Please contact your SLO facilitator for any questions/comments you may have.

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Discipline Home Page

The TracDat web address is http://tracdat.elac.edu/. Please login using the username and password that was used to setup your account. If you forget your username or password, please contact your facilitator.

This page contains general information about the discipline including all of the courses within that discipline (based on the catalog) and the number of SLOs for each course.

Navigation from this page is left-to-right, top-to-bottom.

1. Discipline (Department Name) – Specific Discipline2. List of courses offered by the discipline3. Number of SLOs recorded for each course4. Number of assessment methods listed for the SLOs – each SLO may have a different

assessment method, or an individual SLO may have several assessment methods. This number will vary.

5. Number of SLOs where assessment methods have not been developed and/or input6. Date when assessment results for any of the SLOs for that course were last input7. Date when a “Use of Results” based on the assessment results was added

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How to Add an SLO to a Course

1. From the Discipline Home Page, select “Course Plan”

2. Select the course from the drop-down menu. (The SLO Team made an effort to input any SLOs submitted in the previous year’s electronic report. Please make sure these are accurate and active.)

If an SLO is inactive – that is, it has been replaced - select “edit” and change the SLO status to “Inactive”

3. Select “Add New SLO”

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How to Add an SLO to a Course, cont’d

1. Select a name for the SLO. The name may be specific to the skill being assessed in that particular SLO or it may be a generic name such as “SLO 1.”

2. Input the SLO.

*Note that steps one and two are the only required steps on the page.

3. From the drop-down menu, select if the SLO is “Active” or “Inactive.” a. “Active” means that the SLO is currently in the assessment cycleb. “Inactive” means that the SLO is no longer valid. For example, it may have been

replaced with a more specific or more clearly developed SLO.

4. Set the dates. Keeping track of the dates will create a history for the SLO and SLO process.

a. Start date: indicates when the SLO was developedb. End date: indicates when the SLO is “inactive” and will no longer be measured.

5. Don’t forget to “Save Changes”!

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How to Link an SLO to Related Competencies/Goals (ELAC’s Core Competencies)

From the Course Plan page:

1. Select the course from the drop-down menu. The SLOs for that course will display

2. Select “Related Competencies/Goals”

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How to Link an SLO to Related Competencies/Goals (ELAC’s Core Competencies), cont’d

3. Select the appropriate SLO by SLO Name. It will appear in gray in the box below.

4. Check off the Core Competencies that are linked to this SLO. (These links should be listed in the first column of any SLO reports previously generated.)

5. Once the Core Competencies have been linked, the Save Changes button will appear in gold. Don’t forget to Save Changes!

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How to Add an Assessment Method

The “Means of Assessment” page tells viewers how a particular SLO will be assessed. Each individual SLO will have one and may have more ways of being assessed.

From SLO » Means of Assessment

1. Select the appropriate course from the drop-down menu.

2. Select the SLO for which a “means of assessment is being added. Once the SLO is selected, it will appear in gray in the SLO box directly below.

3. Select “Add New Assessment Method”

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How to Add an Assessment Method, cont’d

4. The Course, SLO Name and SLO will appear on this page in gray and cannot be edited on this page.

5. “Assessment Method Category” provides a drop-down menu that allows users to select what type of method will be used. Note that this category is not a mandatory one.

If a category does not appear that the department wishes to have included, please contact the department Facilitator.

6. “Assessment Method” explains more specifically how the SLO is being assessed.

For example, the category of assessment may be “Exam/Quiz” but the Assessment Method designates more specifically. It may state that the Assessment Method is “12 multiple-choice questions” or “3 short-answer written responses.”

Inputting an Assessment Method is necessary and helps to provide a history of how that particular SLO has been assessed.

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7. Setting a “Benchmark” means setting criteria for success. In other words, what percentage of students accomplishing the SLO indicates that instruction leading to that SLO was successful?

A benchmark might read something like: 70% of students will score a 70% or better on the exam.

8. Assessment Schedule: Indicates how often the assessment for this particular SLO will be conducted.

9. Don’t forget to “Save Changes”!

10. Once changes have been saved, the “Relate Documents” button will appear in gold, allowing documents to be attached.

For example, the quiz used to assess the SLO might be attached as a Word document for future reference.

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How to Input Assessment Results

From the Discipline homepage ≫Assessment Results ≫By Course ≫ Course from the drop-down menu ≫ Add Assessment Result

1. Once the appropriate course is chosen, click on ‘Add Assessment Result’.

2. Click ‘select’ for the specific SLO.

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How to Input Assessment Results, cont’d

3. ‘Assessment Result’ → type in the results.

4. ‘Assessment Result Date’ → either the date the results were collected OR the date results are being input.

5. ‘Result’ →Choose appropriate category based on the following definitions.a. Assessment Not Applicable: No benchmark was set for this assessment.b. Benchmark Met: The results meet the benchmark.c. Benchmark Not Met: The results do not meet the benchmark.

6. ‘SLO Cycle Status’ →Choose the appropriate status based on the definitions given on the page 13. A flowchart is also provided to illustrate the cycle.

7. ‘SLO Cycle Status Update Date’ →The current date.

8. Don’t forget to “Save Changes”!

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SLO Cycle Status Defined

1. SLO DEFINED: The SLO has been developed and written.2. ASSESSMENT PLAN DEVELOPED: The “means of assessment” have been developed.3. ASSESSMENTS IN PROGRESS: The assessment(s) are currently being conducted.4. ASSESSMENT RESULTS BEING ANALYZED: Assessment data collected and being analyzed

by department faculty to determine if benchmark is met.5. IMPLEMENTATION PLAN DEVELOPED: Plan of action developed to improve assessment

results.6. IMPLEMENTATION PLAN IN USE: Plan of action being used by faculty.7. REASSESSMENT IN PROGRESS: Assessment based on implementation plan currently

being conducted.8. Return to number 4 and continue cycle. SLO REDEFINED (if necessary): Assessment results may reveal the need to redevelop and

rewrite the SLO. Please note this step will require the inactivation of the original SLO and activation of the new SLO.

How to Input Use of Results

From the Discipline homepage ≫Assessment Results ≫By Course ≫ Course from the drop-down menu ≫ Show Assessment Results

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*SLO Redefined (if necessary)

*Note: This step can only be completed once assessment results have been input.

1. Once ‘Show Assessment Results’ is clicked, the results will appear. Click on ‘add Use of Results’ which appears to the right of the results.

2. Use of Results →This dialogue box is basically the same as ‘Implementation Plan Developed’ from the previous section. Input the plan developed based on the results to improve assessment results.

3. Date →Current date.4. Don’t forget to “Save Changes”!

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