by Jarek Janio, Ph.D.
Inspired by a recent Friday SLO Talk featuring Dr. Leslie Jennings, Missina Minter, Megan Zara, and Dr. Stacy Greathouse from The University of Texas at Arlington.
When we picture course design and student learning outcome (SLO) assessment, the image is often solitary: an instructor sitting alone, revising a syllabus or mapping assessments to standards after hours. But the recent Friday SLO Talk introduced a refreshing and transformative alternative: the Motley Crew model of SLO assessment.
Built by a team from The University of Texas at Arlington—including nursing faculty, librarians, instructional designers, and accessibility specialists—this model reframes SLO development and assessment as a team effort, not an individual responsibility. It asks a simple but profound question:
If students’ learning experiences are complex and multidimensional, shouldn’t the teams designing and assessing those experiences be just as dynamic?
Here’s why the Motley Crew model—and the broader idea of collaborative SLO assessment—might be exactly what modern education needs.
The Rise of the Motley Crew
The project that inspired this conversation was a fast-paced, high-stakes nursing course, designed to prepare students for perioperative care roles. Condensed into a two-and-a-half-week “Maymester,” the course demanded rapid, deep learning combined with clinical observation experiences.
To meet this challenge, Dr. Leslie Jennings (Nursing Faculty) was partnered with Dr. Stacy Greathouse (Learning Architect and Instructional Technologist), Missina Minter (Health Sciences Librarian), and Megan Zara (OER and Accessibility Librarian). Each team member brought distinct expertise:
- Dr. Jennings ensured clinical content accuracy and professional authenticity.
- Dr. Greathouse built the course’s instructional framework, assessments, and technology environment.
- Missina Minter curated high-quality, licensed medical resources and ensured access.
- Megan Zara vetted all materials for accessibility and licensing compliance, aligning them with open educational resource (OER) standards.
Each role was essential. No single person could have designed the course alone—not because of a lack of dedication, but because today’s learning environments are too complex to be navigated solo.
Course Design as Crew Navigation
The crew mentality is not just about teamwork—it’s about shared responsibility and interdependent roles.
Much like a ship at sea, where each crew member holds a vital post, successful course design requires collaboration among specialists who speak different “languages” but share a common mission. A learning architect sees structural patterns. A content expert speaks the language of practice. A librarian navigates information ecosystems. An accessibility specialist ensures no learner is left stranded.
Together, they:
- Anchor content in real-world relevance.
- Design assessments that transparently map to student learning outcomes.
- Integrate accessible, diverse, and open resources to remove barriers.
- Support learning technologies that reinforce—not hinder—student agency.
SLOs created by such a crew are stronger, clearer, and better aligned than anything a solo instructor working in isolation could consistently achieve.
Why It Matters for Student Learning
At first glance, this crew model might seem like extra work. Wouldn’t it be faster to just “do it yourself”?
The answer is: only in the very short term. Over time, the crew approach saves time, increases clarity, and dramatically improves learning outcomes.
Here’s why:
1. Higher quality alignment:
When multiple experts validate that each learning activity, assessment, and instructional material supports the SLOs, students experience a seamless journey. They know exactly why they are doing each task—and how it connects to what they are supposed to learn.
2. Better accessibility and equity:
Having an accessibility advocate embedded in the design phase prevents the need for retroactive fixes and ensures that all students, regardless of ability, can meaningfully participate.
3. More authentic assessment:
Rather than defaulting to multiple-choice exams, collaborative teams can create assessments that mirror real-world tasks, supported by resources and structures that make learning authentic and sustainable.
4. Improved workload transparency:
By pulling in librarians and technologists, the crew can accurately forecast how much time learning activities will take, helping students plan and preventing burnout.
5. Faculty support and growth:
No instructor has to master everything—technology, instructional design, accessibility law, OER licensing—on their own. Instead, they can stay anchored in their content expertise while collaborating with trusted navigators.
In short: crew-built SLOs aren’t just better for faculty—they’re better for students.
What Solo Instructors Can Learn from the Motley Crew
Even if your institution doesn’t (yet) provide a full instructional design team, instructors can still adopt the crew mentality:
- Seek allies. Partner with a librarian, an instructional designer, or an accessibility specialist. Don’t try to “know it all.”
- Prioritize transparency. Use clear, consistent language across your SLOs, assignments, and assessments so students can chart their course.
- Ask for help. Advocating for support is a professional responsibility, not a weakness.
- Celebrate interdependence. Great teaching and assessment come from community, not isolation.
Faculty are not ships adrift. They are captains—and captains need crews.
Final Thoughts
The Motley Crew model reminds us that education is not an individual pursuit. Student learning outcomes, if they are to be meaningful, must be forged in collaboration, cared for collectively, and continually navigated together.
In an era of increasing complexity in higher education—from online learning platforms to accessibility compliance to OER integration—the idea that one person alone can “do it all” is not just unrealistic. It’s unfair.
Collaboration in SLO assessment is not a luxury. It’s a necessity.
And if the high-seas spirit of the Motley Crew teaches us anything, it’s this:
Shared purpose builds stronger ships—and better futures for our students.