Outcome-based education (OBE) has emerged as the standard approach to educational design in higher education since the development of the four-year degree curriculum. The core of OBE is the alignment of learning activities in a program with agreed, intended learning outcomes (ILOs) and the deployment of assessment activities that enable program teams to evaluate the program's success in achieving these outcomes. This effort has been linked to the widening of the range of desired learning outcomes beyond knowledge-oriented outcomes to include higher-order intellectual competencies, academic skills, personal competencies, citizenship, and so on.
(1) Alignment of learning outcomes of programs and courses
In accordance with the guidelines of the approval of courses and programs as approved by the Senate, thrust/pillar/base uses various methods of curriculum mapping when developing new academic proposals which require, inter alia, the specification of program intended learning outcomes (PILOs) and their alignment with the program’s educational objectives; key course intended learning outcomes (CILOs) and their alignment with PILOs; the planned teaching and learning arrangements; and a mapping of assessment tasks.
(2) Graduate Attributes - ABC LIVE
Development of graduate attributes is a part of OBE that helps guide the design of program curriculum and other learning activities for students. Graduate attributes reflect the strengths and values of an institution and serve as an option for evaluating the effectiveness of programs via feedback from employers and alumni on whether the graduates demonstrate these attributes.
The set of graduate attributes under the acronym ABC LIVE was adopted since the introduction of OBE and the four-year degree programs. It has provided the basis for the development of Hub/program/course-level statements of intended learning outcomes in curriculum design; and is underpinned by the Common Core Program competency framework.
ABC for academic and LIVE for personal development, as defined below:
- Academic excellence: An in-depth grasp of at least one area of specialist or professional study, based on a forward-looking curriculum and an inquiry-driven approach to learning
- Broad-based education: Intellectual breadth, flexibility, and curiosity, including an understanding of the role of rational, balanced inquiry and discussion, and a grasp of the basic approach and values of the core disciplines of science, social science, engineering and the humanities
- Competencies and capacity building: High-level, transferable competencies, including analytical, critical, quantitative and communications skills
- Leadership and teamwork: A capacity for leadership and teamwork, including the ability to motivate others, to be responsible and reliable, and to give and take direction and constructive criticism
- International outlook: An international outlook, and an appreciation of cultural diversity
- Vision and an orientation to the future: Adaptability and flexibility, a passion for learning, the ability to develop clear, forward-looking goals, and the self-direction and discipline to achieve these goals
- Ethical standards and compassion: Respect for others and high standards of personal integrity; Compassion and a readiness to contribute to the community
(3) Assessment of ILOs - Criterion referencing
The primary responsibility for maintaining internationally comparable academic standards rests with the faculty and teaching staff who design, deliver and co-ordinate courses, who set and mark assessments and who assign course grades that reflect students’ achievement of course intended learning outcomes. With the implementation of Outcome Based Education(OBE), faculty should be aware of the adoption of criterion-referenced assessment (CRA) in all courses and assign grades that reflect students’ achievement of course ILOs. Some recommended good practices are:
- Specify, at the start of a course, the nature, number, and timing of assessments (e.g. tests/ essays/ reports/ assignments/ presentations/ classroom participation/ laboratory exercises/ final examinations) and the percentage contribution of each to the overall course grade;
- Design assessments that are sufficiently academically challenging to allow differentiation of student performance in achieving course ILOs and grades, to avoid grade inflation and maintain academic standards;
- Design assessments that require students to apply, analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information rather than recall facts or concepts that could be easily reproduced from websites or other sources.
Instructors are reminded that examinations/assessment standards should be set at appropriate difficulty levels, with grades assigned in accordance with the University’s approved definitions and grade descriptors for the assessment of key intended learning outcomes.