Outcomes-Based Education

(OBE)
Education is aimed at creating teaching and learning environments that would bring
about desired changes in learners, whether to be more knowledgeable, better
skilled or to influence their attitudes and values positively. The essence of teaching
and learning is to plan teaching events (contents, strategies, etc) and to ascertain
to what extent learners have acquired the intended competences.
Uncertainty about the desired learning outcomes and failure to assess outcomes
properly could end in a situation where learners only attained pseudo knowledge,
pseudo-skills, pseudo-attitudes and pseudo-values. On completion of their studies
these learners are awarded a certificate inherently implying that they have attained
certain competences whereas in fact they have not. Disenchantment with
education in this regard is obvious - but not a new phenomenon.
Dissatisfaction with education policies and practices have time and again led to
initiatives to adjust these practices and systems to meet the needs of learners at
the time. However, not all of these turned out to be to their advantage, which gave
rise to revised initiatives.
Outcomes-based education [OBE] is currently favored internationally to promote
educational renewal and has been implemented in countries such as Canada, the
United States and New Zealand. However, it has already elicited harsh criticism
from opponents of the movement (Claassen, 1998; HTTP, 1994). South Africa is
introducing its own version of OBE as the basis of Curriculum 2005 (Claassen, 1998;
Malan, 1997:73). And, as elsewhere in the world, reactions vary between
commendation by its proponents and denouncement by its critics.
Curriculum compilers in South Africa hail OBE as a major paradigm shift in education
(Reddy, 1995:13; Department of Education, 1997b; Arjun, 1998). But how original is
the OBE dispensation, and does it actually represent a paradigm shift? This article
addresses these issues by tracing the roots of OBE and by putting outcomes-based
education into perspective.
OBE focuses on students achieving outcomes (required attributes, skills, qualities)
after undergoing the learning process through the OBE curriculum. The attainment
of the outcomes are a learning process that may temporally vary from one student
to the other; regarded as means and not the end objectives. If the outcomes are not
attained, they are rethought, thus ensuring the Continual Quality Improvement
(CQI) takes place in the education system. OBE shifts the paradigm from the
teacher-centered to the student-centered learning. The new teaching and learning
(T&L) approach transforms from an emphasis on traditional input, such as course
credits earned and hours spent in class, to results or outcomes. It focuses on
empirically measuring student performance, or the outcomes. OBE implementation
requires that students demonstrate that they have learned the required knowledge
and developed the required skill and attributes.

Narration of activities/experiences
The said seminar was held on November 30, 2015 at the SLSU-TO covered court.
First was the checking of the attendance in every section of BSEd and BEEd
Students. The speaker arrived very early 30 mins before the allotted time to start
the seminar but sad to say some of attendees didnt come early so the seminar
started late.
The seminar was started by a prayer, then the singing of the Philippine national
anthem. After that an opening remarks was given by one of the attendees then an
intermission number given by the selected students of BSEd 302. After the
intermission was the introduction of the guest speaker by Ms. Recil Castolo. The
speaker was Dr. Stella Marie Consul and she started her discussion about the
Outcomes-Based Education.
Learning Insight
During the seminar while Mrs. Consul discussed about the OBE, I realize that
my understanding about the topic was very limited until this seminar was
conducted, this seminar helped me to broaden and deeper my understanding about
OBE. I learned that OBE is a method of curriculum design and teaching that focuses
on what students can actually do after they are taught. And according to CHED, it is
an approach that focuses and organizes the educational system around what is
essential for all learners to know, value, and be able to do to achieve a desired level
of competence. In this statements, OBE is a way in enhancing the learners skills for
them to use it in the future. OBE is different from other curriculum in the way that
outcomes must be formulated first than the strategies to be used. I also learned
about the different typology or the Horizontal Typology where there are different
expectations on different graduates in different kinds of institutions. I also learned
on how the teachers should assess their leaners in OBE, and it is categorized into 3;
(1) Assessment for learning, (2) Assessment as learning, and (3) Assessment of
learning.