Institutional learning objectives (ILOs) for baccalaureate programs were approved by the Mānoa Faculty Senate on May 2, 2012 and the advanced degree ILOs were approved on May 10, 2017. Understanding how the ILOs have been implemented university-wide will be crucial for future WASC accreditation reviews.

WASC encourages institutional learning objectives and a plan for implementation and assessment [WASC CFR 2.3 and 2.4]. These learning objectives encompass the whole student experience and include those things students should know, value, and be able to do upon degree completion from UH Mānoa. Importantly, they are meant to be achieved by the whole of a student’s experience at UH Mānoa, not merely by completing coursework.

Working with a set of institutional learning objectives is an opportunity for the campus as a whole to understand student learning at the institutional level – the comprehensive view of what students learn and what they should know upon leaving UH Mānoa. Outcomes-based learning is not the be-all and end-all of a university education, especially given that at the end of the day it is up to students to participate in their own learning. However, the ILOs can provide a space within which the campus can think collectively about what we believe ought to be learned while at UH Mānoa, and they can help frame the future directions in which we would like to see education move. Faculty can now use the ILOs as a guide to inform student learning activities and make the learning outcomes for UH Mānoa students more visible and clear.