Call for Presenters: 14th National SLO Symposium
Learning on Display: Assessing Skills, Competencies, and Performance
October 25, 2026
January 29 & 30, 2027
Friday and Saturday, fully online.
Friday, 10am to 3pm PST
All breakout sessions are scheduled for Friday, January 29.
About the Symposium
The National Student Learning Outcomes Symposium is an annual event dedicated to advancing the direct assessment of student learning through collaboration, professional dialogue, and practical solutions. It brings together faculty, department chairs, SLO coordinators, researchers, administrators, institutional researchers, academic deans, and leaders in educational effectiveness from colleges and universities across the United States and beyond.
The 14th National SLO Symposium invites proposals for breakout sessions that focus on the assessment of student learning as observable and verifiable behavior. Presentations should demonstrate how students' knowledge, skills, and competencies are made observable through performances, products, demonstrations, projects, portfolios, or other forms of direct evidence.
Proposals should explain how student learning is observed and assessed rather than inferred through indirect measures such as satisfaction, participation, attendance, persistence, or engagement. At the Symposium, learning is not assumed: it must be demonstrated through observable student action that can be evaluated using clear criteria and evidence.
Suggested topics
Proposals may examine outcomes assessment from many perspectives, provided they show how learning is made observable and assessable.
Teaching & learning practices
Experiential, project-based, and active learning that results in observable performances or products; authentic assessment in meaningful contexts; strategies that involve students in documenting and reflecting on their demonstrated learning.
Competency-based & outcomes-focused approaches
CBE models and practices; designing measurable SLOs, PLOs, and ILOs; rubric development and performance-based assessment; badges and microcredentials tied to demonstrated competencies.
Assessment, accreditation & institutional effectiveness
Accreditation expectations; institutional approaches to documenting and improving learning; program review built on direct evidence; data collection, analysis, and reporting for continuous improvement.
Equity & student success
Assessment practices that promote fairness and transparency; documenting learning gains across diverse student populations; ensuring every student has meaningful opportunities to demonstrate learning.
Artificial intelligence & emerging technologies
AI in supporting learning and assessment; AI-assisted feedback and competency development; assessing learning in AI-rich environments; technology-enhanced evidence collection and evaluation.
What successful proposals do
Strong proposals identify the student learning outcomes, skills, or competencies being assessed, and describe the direct evidence used to evaluate them. They explain how learning is observed, documented, and assessed, offer practical examples, tools, or models that participants can apply at their own institutions, and show how assessment results are used to improve teaching, curriculum, programs, or institutional practices.
Submit your proposal
Proposals are due October 25, 2026.
Use your institutional email address; .com addresses are not accepted. Write each outcome with an observable, measurable verb (list, analyze, evaluate, create), one per line.