The world is experiencing numerous alterations in education, healthcare, and business. These days, the more abilities a person has, the higher the chances of getting hired and achieving solid results. Companies pay close attention to socio-cultural, economic, and demographic aspects when looking for candidates. Outcome-Based Education helps improve these attributes by combining unique knowledge on the topic with dynamic and cross-sectional abilities. Through updating curriculums, graduates perfect their universal skills to make sure their expertise area is in demand. Let’s take a closer look at what Outcome-Based Education is, its peculiarities and advantages, and the challenges it faces.
Outcome-Based Education: Definition
OBE is an organizational structure. It helps to design content around activities that lead to an improvement of a given skill or knowledge. This model doesn’t provide any directives or rules. However, it gives several principles that confirm its usefulness. In cooperation with https://www.the-essays.com/, we are ready to present them right away.
Concepts of OBE
Three main principles make OBE a unique and practical approach. They are:
Student-Oriented
First and foremost, Outcome-Based Education considers every student as a center of its model. Students play a pivotal role in the learning process, not teachers or other educators. The first question this learning model poses is, “What does a student have to do to perfect a certain ability or knowledge?”
Precision
Since the learning process focuses on learners and their educational needs, students find no subjects vague or useless. Every person is aware of what is expected of them. Moreover, they can go deeper into the learning process and develop their questions regarding the topic.
Versatility
Outcome-Based Education adjusts to students’ academic advancement. In other words, if a student demonstrates more rapid development than was expected, the learning program is reviewed for the learner’s greater good. Likewise, if a student faces difficulties understanding the material, OBE slows down until the person entirely understands it.
Challenges Outcome-Based Education Faces
Every approach has its benefits and challenges. So does Outcome-Based Education. Although the approach was introduced to the public in the early-1993s, which could have been developed and bolstered these days, it still faces some difficulties in interpretation. The main weakness the approach experiences is the lack of a prescriptive set of instructional design. On the one hand, it highlights the outcomes precisely, which helps learners understand the approach, how it works, and what benefits it brings in the long run. On the other, though, there is no accurate, step-by-step program determining how a learner can accomplish the set goal.
Aside from that, OBE shows worse results if applied to humanities. When vocational subjects (STEM) work well, history and literature may well face difficulties. Science or math relies on more structured programs, whereas Art requires a more free-flowing approach.
Ultimately, OBE hasn’t found a complete solution when it comes to evaluation. Written tests can’t reveal the outcomes of OBE. It requires a more in-depth assessment approach, such as group projects, case studies, speeches, or interactive quizzes.
The Bottom Line
Outcome-Based Education is not a new phenomenon. It has been present for years, yet wasn’t used much. Clearly, there are many pros OBE brings to its users, such as clarity and flexibility. Also, OBE has several drawbacks. And the sooner they are worked out; the more people will apply this method.
