Outcome-Based Education

INTRODUCTION

Outcome based education was a popular term in the United States during the 1980s and early
1990. It is also called Mastery education performance-based education. The emphasis in an
outcome based education education system is on measured outcomes rather than "inputs," such
as how many hours students spend in class, or what textbooks are provided. Outcomes may
include a range of skills and knowledge. Outcome Based Education is the current trending
standard in nursing education. Educational institutions are being asked to develop more
meaningful ways to measure student learning and in this scenario Outcome Based Education
makes a good meaningful approach to nursing education system. The critical care nursing faculty
at this baccalaureate institution has delineated a process of outcomes-based education that they
use as evidence of successful learning in their course.

DEFINITION

 OUTCOMES

An outcome is a culminating demonstration of learning, it is what the student should be able

to do at the end of a course
.
 OUTCOME BASED EDUCATION IS DEFINED AS A ―
Comprehensive approach to organizing and operating an education system that is focused in and
defined by the successful demonstrations of learning sought from each student.
(Spady,1994)

OUTCOME BASED EDUCATION PURPOSE

Spady (1994) emphasizes that the decision of what and whether the learners learn is more
important than when it happens and through what means (how) they learn it. He therefore
identifies two key aims for outcome based education:

 Ensure all learners are successful in that they are equipped with the knowledge, skills and
qualities(values and attitudes) required after they exit the educational system.
 Achieve and maximize selected outcomes for all students by structuring and operating
education facilities to be success oriented.
 Overall approach (framework)
 Perception of time
 What and how standards are assessed
 How performance is determined
CHARACTERISTICS OF OUTCOMES BASED EDUCATION
It is a combination of three types of competence:

 PRACTICAL: knowing how to do things, ability to make decisions.

 FUNDAMENTAL: understanding what you are doing and why.
 REFLECTIVE: learn and adapt through self-reflection; apply knowledge appropriately
and responsibly.

OBJECTIVES

 Identify skills and competencies required in professional nursing care

 Facilitate holistic professional development by effectively delivering the curriculum and
adding on
 Continuously assess the learning attainment levels of students and develop action plans
based on the gaps
 Improving upon the curriculum, its supplements and the teaching-learning process, based
on the feedback.

Implementation of outcome based education required lot of learning and unlearning.

Formal training sessions by experts were arranged for all the teachers.

DEVELOPMENT OF OUTCOME-BASED EDUCATION

Much of the work on the development of outcome-based education was carried out in pre-
university education in the US by Spady. The Coleman report, published in 1966, demonstrated
problems in the pre-university educational system, with results attributed almost entirely to the
socioeconomic and ethnic background of the students who attended the school. A need for
reform of the American educational system was identified. Educators turned to the work of
Carroll 4 and Bloom 5 to achieve the desired reform. Carroll had argued that it was inappropriate
to fix the time for study and expect variable learning results from students .What was needed was
a uniform minimum standard that all students would be expected to achieve and that all would be
given the time needed to achieve. Bloom developed Carroll’s thinking into the notion of mastery
learning, in which a fixed level of performance was to be achieved by students by changing the
relationship between time and learning. The learning became fixed and the time to achieve the
learning became the variable. These ideas became the Underlying, educational principles of
outcome-based education. The State Board of Education, Pennsylvania, decided in 1992 to
replace rigid adherence to the traditional school calendar with a set of performance capabilities
that students had to achieve. One school in Glendale Arizona took the decision, on its own, to
extend the school day to better deploy its resources for the benefit of student learning.

Aurora public schools in Colorado identified five, role-based, exit outcomes in 1990: Self-
directed learners, Collaborative workers, Complex thinkers, Community contributors, Quality
producers. These reforms in pre-university education impacted on health-profession education at
a time of dissatisfaction with medical education. In the US the General Professional Education of
the Physician (GPEP) Report, published by the Association of American Medical Colleges
(AAMC) in 1985, called on medical schools to give each student the knowledge, skills, values,
and attitudes that all physicians should have. In the UK in 1993 the General Medical Council
(GMC) published its recommendations for under graduate medical education in Tomorrow’s
Doctors, a document that signaled far-reaching reform of the undergraduate medical curriculum.
As part of that report, the education committee of the GMC identified the attributes of the
independent practitioner. The search for the outcomes of medical education had begun

OUTCOME BASED EDUCATION PHILOSPHY

Outcome based education can be regarded as a theory (or a philosophy) of education (Killen,
2000). Within outcome based education there are ascertain set of beliefs and assumptions about
learning, teaching and the systemic structures within which activities take place. Spady (1994)
proposes three basic assumptions: all learners can learn and succeed; Success breeds success;
and ―teaching institutions (schools) control the conditions of success.
Killen (2000) defines two basic types of outcome. The first includes performance indicators
often measured in terms of tests results, completion rates, post course employment, and so forth.
It also emphasizes learner mastery of traditional subject related academic outcomes/content and
some cross discipline outcomes (such as problem solving or working cooperatively). The second
is less tangible and usually expressed in terms of what the learners know, are able to do or are
like as a result of their education. It stresses long term, cross-curricular outcomes which relate to
future life roles of the learner (such as being a productive worker, responsible citizen or parent).
These two approaches are what Spady (1994) respectively calls traditional/transactional (content
based) and transformational (outcomes based) learning systems.

DISCLOSURE IN INDIA

India has become the permanent signatory member of the Washington Accord on 13 June
2014. India has started implementing outcome based education in higher technical education like
diploma and undergraduate programs. The National Board of Accreditation, a body for
promoting international quality standards for technical education in India has started accrediting
only the programs running with outcome based education from 2013. The National Board of
Accreditation mandates establishing a culture of outcomes-based education in institutions that
offer Engineering, Pharmacy, Management programs. Outcomes analysis and using the
analytical reports to find gaps and carry out continuous improvement is essential cultural shift
from how the above programs are run when outcome based education culture is not embraced.
Outcomes analysis requires huge amount of data to be churned and made available at anytime,
anywhere. Such an access to scalable, accurate, automated and real-time data analysis is possible
only if the institute adopts either excel sheet based measurement system or some kind of home-
grown or commercial software system. It is observed that excel sheet based measurement and
analysis system doesn't scale when the stakeholders want to analyses longitudinal data.
OUTCOME BASED EDUCATION PRINCIPLE

A curriculum aligned towards Outcome-based Education (outcome based education) means it

contains a clear idea of what is actually important for learners to be able to do, leading to the
organization of the curriculum, delivery of instruction and assessment in such a way to make
sure that this learning ultimately happens. The discussion on these principles is incomplete
without the mention of Spady (1944) who identified the four principles for attaining outcome
based education through the curriculum, i.e.:

1. Clarity of focus: --- Educators must be clearly focused on what they want their
learners to understand and be able to do. In other words, the focus of educators is
helping learners to develop the knowledge, skills and behavior to enable them to
achieve the clearly articulated learning outcomes.
2. Designing down: --- The design of the curriculum must itself contain an appropriate
definition of the intended learning outcomes that learners are to achieve by the end of
the program, this, in turn, will lead to all instructional delivery decisions to ensure this
desired end result.
3. High expectations: --- Educators are expected to establish challenging standards of
high performance in order to encourage their learners to engage deeply in what they
are learning. This act of educators promotes more successful learning.
4. Expanded opportunities: --- Based on the idea that not all learners can learn the same
concept in the same style in the same duration, thus, educators must strive to provide
expanded opportunities for their learners. It is well noted that most learners can
achieve very high standards if provided appropriate opportunities timely.

. OUT COME BASED EDUCATION PROCESS

To build up Outcome-based Education syllabus, 'Constructive alignment' process is usually

followed. Professor John Biggs in 1999, coined this term which refers to the process to create a
dynamic learning environment with the help of appropriate learning activities resulting in the
achievement of the desired learning outcomes. The 'constructive' refers to what the learner does
to construct meaning derived through relevant learning activities. The 'alignment' aspect refers to
what the educator does for successful learning by the learners.
The key to the alignment is that the components in the teaching-learning system, especially the
instruction delivery methods used and the assessment tasks are aligned to the learning activities
assumed in the intended outcomes.

BENEFITS OF OUTCOME BASED EDUCATION

1. Clarity
The focus on outcomes creates a clear expectation of what needs to be accomplished by the end
of the course. Students will understand what is expected of them and teachers will know what
they need to teach during the course. Clarity is important over years of schooling and when team
teaching is involved. Each team member, or year in school, will have a clear understanding of
what needs to be accomplished in each class, or at each level, allowing students to progress.
Those designing and planning the curriculum are expected to work backwards once an outcome
has been decided upon; they must determine what knowledge and skills will be required to reach
the outcome.
2. Flexibility
With a clear sense of what needs to be accomplished, instructors will be able to structure their
lessons around the student’s needs. Outcome based education does not specify a specific method
of instruction, leaving instructors free to teach their students using any method. Instructors will
also be able to recognize diversity among students by using various teaching and assessment
techniques during their class. outcome based education is meant to be a student-centered
learning model. Teachers are meant to guide and help the students understand the material in any
way necessary, study guides, and group work are some of the methods instructors can use to
facilitate students learning.
3. Comparison
Outcome based education can be compared across different institutions. On an individual level,
institutions can look at what outcomes a student has achieved to decide what level the student
would be at within a new institution. On an institutional level, institutions can compare
themselves, by checking to see what outcomes they have in common, and find places where they
may need improvement, based on the achievement of outcomes at other institutions. The ability
to compare easily across institutions allows students to move between institutions with relative
ease. The institutions can compare outcomes to determine what credits to award the student. The
clearly articulated outcomes should allow institutions to assess the student’s achievements
rapidly, leading to increased movement of students. These outcomes also work for school to
work transitions. A potential employer can look at records of the potential employee to
determine what outcomes they have achieved. They can then determine if the potential employee
has the skills necessary for the job.
4. Involvement
Student involvement in the classroom is a key part of outcome based education. Students are
expected to do their own learning, so that they gain a full understanding of the material.
Increased student involvement allows students to feel responsible for their own learning, and
they should learn more through this individual learning. Other aspects of involvement are
parental and community, through developing curriculum, or making changes to it. outcome
based education outcomes are meant to be decided upon within a school system, or at a local
level. Parents and community members are asked to give input in order to uphold the standards
of education within a community and to ensure that students will be prepared for life after
school.

DISADVANTAGES OF OUTCOME-BASED EDUCATION

1. Imposition of Constraints
Opponents viewed the implementation of the outcome-based approach as
imposing constraints on children’s education. Their concern was that education should be open-
ended, taking the child where he or she was able to develop. While this can be seen as a
disadvantage in pre-university education, it is an advantage in health-professions education,
focusing attention on fitness to practice.

2. Inclusion of Emphasis on Attitudes and Values Was Inappropriate

Opponents of outcome-based education in pre-university education claimed that the proposed
outcomes watered down academic in favor of ill-defined values and process skill and that
traditional academic content is omitted or buried in a morass of pedagogic clap-trap in the
outcome-based education plans that have emerged to date. The inclusion of attitudes, values, and
professionalism is, however, an advantage in health-professions education at a time when health
professionals are being criticized regularly in the media for poor attitudes and a lack of
professionalism.

3. Inhibition of Learning by Discovery

McKernan13 argued that education should be valued for its own sake and not because it led to a
pre-identified outcome. To define education as a set of outcomes decided in advance of teaching
and learning, conflicts with the wonderful, unpredictable voyages of exploration that characterize
learning through discovery and enquiry. He does, however, accept that this liberal notion of
education is more appropriate in the arts and humanities. In health-professions curricula, the
graduate must be fit to practice and the emphasis on outcomes promotes this. Curriculum
planning is facilitated, making education more efficient as well as effective. The search is on, in
many parts of the world, for ways to reduce the training time in many professions, but
particularly in medicine, in response to government demand and the need to train increased
numbers of doctors. Outcomes provide the framework for efficient curriculum planning in the
top-down approach described above.

CRITICISMS OF OUTCOME BASED EDUCATION

Criticism of outcome based education falls into a few major groups :Opposition to standardized
testing Criticism of inappropriate outcomes Lack of evidence that outcome based education works Extra
burden on instructors and educational institutions. Dislike of something that is not outcome
based education

CONCLUSION

In summary, the findings from this review does suggest that outcome based education
approaches in nursing education can have a positive effect on nursing students' competencies in
terms of knowledge acquisition, skills performance and attitude, in addition to improving higher
thinking abilities, reducing cognitive load and achieving higher learner satisfaction. Only one
study revealed that there was no difference in achievement of competency between outcome
based education approach and the conventional methodology of training.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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267-269.

 Sodhi kaur Jaspreet. Comprehensive textbook of nursing education. Jaypee publishers;

2017 Pg no. 233-234.

 Sudha R Principles and Concepts of nursing education Second edition; Jaypee publishers;
2021 Pg no. 57-61.