Our university is currently shifting to outcomes-based education (OBE). (You may be interested to see the link below.) Is your academic institution doing the same? Or have you done it long time ago? Can you share with us some of your experiences?
Article A Paradigm Shift to Outcomes-Based Higher Education: Policie...
Yes, there is a shift to OBE in my college, and in MANY COLLEGES, SCHOOLS AND VARSITIES. It's what the students can do that is important, how students can define, describe, calculate and explain, because students are required to achieve all these outcomes at the end of the class. But in some countries, OBE has been phased out.
"Outcome-based methods have been adopted in education systems around the world, at multiple levels. Australia and South Africa adopted OBE policies in the early 1990s but have since been phased out. The United States has had an OBE program in place since 1994 that has been adapted over the years. In 2005 Hong Kong adopted an outcome-based approach for its universities. Malaysia implemented OBE in all of their public schools systems in 2008."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outcome-based_education
In many a university we have input substitution. Erode tenure and replace "them" with adjuncts. That helps administrators who seem to be converging to a system of one tenured faculty member per department; namely themselves.. Outcome based is the legislators' tool to achieve this. Take a look at the essays by William Weber on facebook.
Yes, as we are expected to work towards producing the ideal graduate according to our University's criteria that includes being a critical thinker. As such, we must show how the learning and assessment help to achieve this end. I have attached an example of how I use the asynchronous debate to develop critical thinking skills in students and outcome. I hope the attached is helpful in answering your question.
Best regards,
Debra
Conference Paper Debating: A Dynamic Teaching Strategy for Motivating Student...
Yes, this is a global phenomenon and part of the neoliberalisation of education through treating it as a business in which knowledge (the commodity) is taken up by the students (the clients) and where quality is measured by being clear about outcomes (specific knowledge packages and whether they are learnt or not; plus employability relevance). The big issue with OBE is that it ties quality to outcomes that are identified in advance of the learning process, and so narrow down what is possible - particularly narrowing down innovation and creativity. Sometimes the most transformative education experiences are those that lead to outcomes that were never envisioned by the lecturer or students in the first place.
Hmmm. I can see that OBE can lead to narrowed outcomes, but I believe that happens under a traditional curriculum, which is mostly based on the premise of memorising the library - a wonderful tradition handed down from medieval monasteries, which is absurd in the 21C when the library is generally accessible at any time from a smartphone. The challenge is to learn to ask good questions. Finsing answers is easy when good questions have been articulated.
So, how does OBE help? First, the teachers need to ask good questions. What needs to be learned? Why are these things important? Whose needs do they serve? In engineering, these questions can begin to be answered with experienced practitioners. Ask them what tasks their new graduates will perform. They are not interested in recipe followers, which is one fear of OBE opponents. Employers want creative thinkers who bring critical thinking to their ideas (lateral thinking + vertical thinking). They want graduates who work well with others, who communicate well and engage with clients and colleagues, who think in systems, who understand values and sustainability. Technical expertise starts at university but is also refined in the workplace, working alongside teachnical masters.
So, at the end of all this, ask yourself: what problem am I solving? That's why OBE is so important.
Happy to provide a link to our report: Define Your Discipline, if there is interest.
Input measures are much like cake recipes. You can assemble the finest ingredients (faculty, books in the library, small classes, technology, etc) but without measurable value added standards, the results may be unpalatable. To paraphrase Robert Mager, If you don’t where you are going, how will you know you have arrived?
SolBridge employs carefully stated course objectives and their rubrics to assess value added on its core courses and uses the results to pursue continuous improvement.
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