Search results

This paper was written for practitioners in higher education, including academics and instructional designers who are engaged in curriculum revision. It aims to examine the notion of outcomes-based education, survey the literature and provide a critical review of the outcomes-based approach to quality assessment and curriculum improvement in higher education. The outcomes-based approach is completely student-centred, which focuses on what students know and can actually do. Sharpening the focus onto student learning outcomes goes beyond mere tinkering with traditional structures and methods; it really constitutes a paradigm shift in educational philosophy and practice.

This paper begins with a summary of developments in institutional quality assessment and curriculum improvement in higher education in recent decades. Then, it identifies the underlying concepts and principles that characterize the outcomes-based approach for the design and improvement of curriculum and instruction in higher education. Finally, the outcomes-based approach is critically reviewed for its value from the perspectives of both practical and philosophical considerations.

In so doing, it is directed to the heightening of sensitivity as to the manner and situations in which the outcomes-based approach may be employed.

A final note is that while learning outcomes approaches are useful, care is needed to take into account the different views and perceptions of those involved in defining learning outcomes and to keep the ultimate goal of improving student learning clearly in mind. Care must also be taken to avoid rigidity and conceptual reification during implementation in curriculum and instructional design.

In Hong Kong higher education, students' learning outcomes are increasingly treated as evidence to inform course and teaching improvement. Therefore, outcome-based teaching and learning (OBTL) has been encouraged by the University Grants Committee (UGC) since 2007. OBTL has gradually been implemented by Hong Kong higher education institutions (HEIs) to enhance student learning outcomes. Relating OBTL to the social cohesion/regulation matrix, this chapter aims at analyzing how OBTL is being implemented by the HEIs in Hong Kong. Given the high institutional autonomy and academic freedom afforded to individual HEIs, each university has established its own systematic framework for integrating outcome-based approaches into its teaching, learning, and assessment. Unlike other higher education systems in Asia with strong government supervision, the government in Hong Kong acts as an enabler and facilitator, leaving the UGC to invite international experts as an independent audit body to assure the quality of student learning. As a result, this chapter chooses the eight UGC-funded universities to investigate how they engage their faculty members in OBTL, and what the enabling and hindering factors are. Based upon the social cohesion/regulation matrix, the Hong Kong higher education system is featured by the individualist way of promoting OBTL. Nonetheless, while universities are empowered with institutional autonomy to decide upon teaching, and student learning matters, their strong orientation with OBTL means they cannot simply do whatever they like. Adopting a robust quality assurance mechanism in evaluating university performance through University Accountability Agreements, the institutional autonomy that universities enjoy rests heavily upon their performance in teaching and student learning, which is assessed through rigorous international benchmarking via the Quality Assurance Audit conducted by the UGC and research performance through the Research Assessment Exercise. This chapter discusses the unique university governance of Hong Kong through the critical review of OBTL being adopted in teaching and learning in Hong Kong universities.

This chapter provides a survey of the dialectal interplay between global forces and local responses within Oceania. Through an examination of four key global trends, we demonstrate how globalization has introduced a new wave of educational policies, pedagogies and initiatives into Oceania’s shores. We consider four global trends that have profoundly shaped local educational responses within the region: the global ecological crisis and its effects within Oceania; the influence of historic and continuing aid relationships; the digital revolution and its mandate to connect the remote and isolated region; and the impact of accelerated mobility away from the region. Through this exploration, we then examine the dialectical interplay between these global and local policies, curriculum, teaching and learning responses through the introduction of curricular initiatives such as outcomes-based education and new platforms for curricular delivery such as Open Distance Learning. In doing so, we demonstrate how Oceania’s deep and interwoven relationality between land, ocean, geography and people powerfully shapes local educational responses to these global forces.

This paper aims to consider the impact of outcome-based education (OBE) on students studying human services degrees, particularly those in a policing program. This work examines the validity of the notion that OBE is a progressive teaching approach that improves the quality of education and subsequently professional practice.

A critical analysis of a systemised outcome-based teaching and learning approach is adopted.

OBE has, as an idea, swept across most educational institutions in an apparently revolutionary wave. However, any critical scrutiny of this systemised approach to teaching and learning calls into question whether it is really progressive or empty rhetoric achieving reactionary ends. Any systemised attempt at social change by way of neo-liberal outcomes that are not principle-driven will serve only to reinforce a philosophy of aggressive competition and individualism at the expense of the rule of law and social policy that is situated on a social contract foundation.

The practical implications of this paper relate to the delivery of higher education teaching, with particular reference to human service degrees such as policing: the use of post-modernist theory to develop contemporary teaching and learning systems has created challenges with regards to scientific knowledge; a principled, deontological teaching and learning system rather than a utilitarian “outcome”-based delivery is proposed; the validity of the notion that outcome-based teaching and learning systems are progressive initiatives that improve the quality of education is questioned; and the impact of OBE for students entering human services professions such as policing has implications for public and community safety.

This paper considers the efficacy of OBE as a model for higher education teaching, with particular reference to human services degrees such as policing.

Despite vast research on outcome‐based education (OBE), there is little consensus among academics regarding its impact, with both positive and negative comments emerging from the literature. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has taken the view that OBE is conducive to the enhancement of student core competencies such as global outlook, critical and creative thinking, social and national responsibility, lifelong learning, entrepreneurship and leadership. The aim of this study was to investigate how a newly developed curriculum, based on the OBE philosophy, impacted on students’ core competencies in an engineering/surveying discipline of PolyU. Qualitative interviews were conducted to establish that OBE was being properly implemented prior to a quantitative examination of its impact on students. Only specific positive learning behaviours were identified among students experiencing OBE. Their core competencies, however, were not statistically proven to be greater than those of students with little or no exposure to OBE. Nevertheless, this did not offer unequivocal evidence to either prove or disprove the effectiveness of OBE, and numerous factors other than the OBE philosophy itself were considered possible causes. It also appeared that some teaching staff lacked faith and knowledge in the implementation of OBE which implicates a need for rectification of the situation.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the operationalization of the outcome-based education (OBE) model in an accountancy study program in Sri Lanka and the impact of education frameworks on OBE.

This study follows the case study approach to the first academic accounting study program in a Sri Lankan public sector university. Primary data were collected through semi-structured interviews and secondary data through a content analysis of various relevant documents. The data were analyzed thematically using the theory of constructive alignment.

In accounting, the most significant imperative for the OBE stems from normative pressures. Since the accounting education frameworks have closely followed the approach suggested in constructive alignment, the normative institutionalization of professional standards in accounting supports OBE in accounting education. The OBE approach with its diverse range of teaching and learning activities and assessment methods in accounting has yielded multi-stakeholder benefits while posing some challenges in operationalization.

The paper’s insights are based on a single case study in Sri Lanka and may be difficult to generalize to other countries.

This is the first empirical attempt to study the operationalization of the theory of constructive alignment of OBE in accounting for a study program.

Explores through a qualitative case study school administrators′ perceptions of the impact of an outcome‐based educational (OBE) model, five years after its adoption in a Washington State school district. Data were collected through open‐ended interviews with building principals and other administrators. Two major themes emerged from the data: OBE produced changes in practice for both teachers and administrators, and these changes in practice were linked to certain outcomes. Teaming was the most valued change in practice for teachers and administrators, and the OBE “vision” sustained through teaming was the most valued outcome. Surprisingly absent from the data was evidence of outcomes for students. Points out the irony of this finding, given OBE′s emphasis on student outcomes.

Higher education institutions increasingly have gained momentum in integrating sustainability into university curricula. The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the approval, implementation and management process of the new university-wide, general education requirement in sustainability at the University of Vermont (UVM). The intent is to provide a case study to inform other institutions seeking to create similar university-wide sustainability requirements.

The authors applied a process framework focused on institutional dynamics and values to analyze UVM’s success in instituting a sustainability requirement across the curriculum. These two frameworks can provide a more general application of this case study to other institutional contexts.

The case study suggests that in the context of a diverse disciplinary and administrative environment at a university, the strategic unfolding, approval and implementation of UVM’s university-wide, general education sustainability requirement can provide a general model for other universities seeking to embed sustainability across the curriculum.

It is uncommon for research universities with multiple professional schools to offer a university-wide requirement in sustainability. This case study analyzes the creation of a sustainability requirement at UVM by using a process framework to organize the complex, multi-stakeholder activities and events that eventually resulted in a successful curricular change. Thus, it is potentially instructive for institutions seeking to integrate a learning outcomes-based sustainability requirement into a university curriculum because it is generalizable to other institutions and pushes forward our understanding of institutional change.

Standard quality is very highly important parameter in the education sector. Accreditation is a process where standard quality of education is given and the process of continuous improvement is defined. Emphasizing quality of student education is achieved through outcome-based education system (OBE). Program outcomes signify the comprehension, skills and attitude the students should have at the end of the program. At the end of each course, course outcomes signify the knowledge acquired by the students. Course outcomes assessment is one of the key aspects of the OBE model. In this research, the following four factors: subject quality, number of times subject handled by faculty members, faculty experience and student quality with different weightage, are used for analysis of the target setting for individual courses, used for higher education accreditation. This new approach for target setting will improve the teaching and learning process.

Four factors: subject quality, number of times subject handled by faculty members, faculty experience and student quality with different weightage, are used for analysis of the target setting for individual courses, used for higher education accreditation.

Using proposed approach, higher targets can be achieved in teaching and learning.

New approach for target setting will improve the teaching and learning process.

Proposed approach for target setting will improve the teaching and learning process; it should be implemented across all engineering colleges or universities.

All engineering colleges will have impact on teaching and learning process.

The following four factors: subject quality, number of times subject handled by faculty members, faculty experience and student quality with different weightage, are used for analysis of the target setting for individual courses, used for higher education accreditation.

This paper investigates whether an outcome-based school aid formula could improve fiscal and outcome equity significantly more than a typical aid formula would. When outcome-based formula is applied to foundation aid, fiscal and outcome equity deteriorates compared to Ohio's recent aid formula. However, when it is applied to power-equalizing aid, the latter improves fiscal and outcome equity more significantly than both foundation aid and Ohio's recent aid formula do. This paper further shows how to apply them to real-world cases. The lessons from this paper can be easily applied to similar grant systems with standardized test scores.