Focus on what the student can do. Don't address what was taught or presented, but address the observable outcome you expect to see in the student.)

Use active verbs.  Active verbs are easier to measure. For instance, if you want the students to understand how to correctly use a microscope - using the word understand is not measurable. Can you measure understanding? Instead try to imagine the outcome - Students will focus and display an image on the microscope. For this I can both develop criteria and measure ability.

Include an assessable expectation. It helps if you have clearly defined expectations concerning the criteria related to that outcome. In the above example, some of the criteria related to using the microscope would include:

	a clearly focused image
	correct lighting adjustment of the diaphragm and condenser
	appropriate magnification for the object
	an evenly distributed specimen field
	clearly located object identified by the pointer
	a written identification

Share the outcomes with faculty from other disciplines and within your own discipline. This helps focus the meaning of the statements. For instance in the above criteria the faculty might ask for clarification of "appropriate magnification."

Share the outcomes with your students. Students need to clearly understand what is expected, they  are unfamiliar with the discipline specific language. This helps focus the clarity of the statements.

Modify as you learn from experience. Leave the word "DRAFT" at the top of your SLOs to remind yourself and communicate to others that you are actively improving them.