OUTCOMES BASED EDUCATION

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An Research Paper
Presented to
Mr. Toni Joe Buena, M.A. (Cand.)
Theology Department
Ateneo de Naga University



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In Partial Fulfilment of the
Major Subject Requirements:
VEDM006: TRANSFORMATIVE EDUCATION

By

Nicomedes L. Sirios III
AB Religious Education
July 2014





"Outcome-Based" Education:
An Overview

Concerns that the education system cannot adequately prepare students for life and work in the
21st Century have prompted people across the country to explore new ways of designing
education. In several states, educators and policy makers are attempting to change the way we
measure the effectiveness of education from an emphasis on traditional inputs, such as course
credits earned and hours spent in class, to results or outcomes.
The shift toward outcome-based education is analogous to the total quality movement in business
and manufacturing. It reflects a belief that the best way for individuals and organizations to get
where they're going is first to determine where they are and where they want to be--then plan
backwards to determine they best way to get from here to there.
Proponents of the outcomes approach in education assume there are many ways to arrive at the
same results: the important thing is that states, districts, schools students do, in fact, achieve
them. Opponents worry about who will decide on outcomes and how students, school and
districts will be held accountable for achieving them. Both sides raise fundamental questions
about the structure and direction of the education system and the role of education in a
democracy.
Why is there so much confusion about outcome-based education?
Debate about outcome-based education reveals widespread confusion about terminology and
concepts. The term "outcomes," "standards" and "goals" frequently are used interchangeably, and
individuals disagree about their meanings and applications. These terms also are used
indiscriminately to refer to different types of results, including content outcomes students
performance outcomes and school performance standards.
Content outcomes describes what students should know and be able to do in particular subject
areas. Student performance outcomes describe how and at what level students must demonstrate
such knowledge and skills. School performance standards define the quality of education schools
must provide in order for students to meet content and/or performance outcomes.
Confusion arises when people often fail to distinguish between outcome-based education as a
concept and programs such as the Outcome-Driven Developmental Model of the National Center
for Outcome-Based Education.
Another source of confusion about outcomes arises from the variety of levels at which they can
be developed and implemented. Connecticut's Common Core of Learning, for example, is a set
of content and performance outcomes developed by a national curriculum organization, which
have been adopted throughout the country by individual teachers, schools and districts.
Approximately 20 national groups, including the Bradley Commission, the National Academy of
Sciences, the U.S. Department of Labor and the New Standards Project, are developing various
types of outcomes that are content-specific or integrate several subject areas.
Some states and districts mandate outcomes, while others present them as guidelines. Some
states require, for example, that schools "meet or exceed" a certain set of outcomes in order to
maintain accreditation. Other states encourage districts and schools to develop and adopt their
own outcomes, based on a particular model put forth by the state.


Common Arguments in Favor Common Arguments Against Outcome-Based

of Outcome-Based Education Education



* Promotes high expectations and * Conflicts with admission requirements and

greater learning for all students. practices of most colleges and universities,

which rely on credit hours and

standardized test scores



* Prepares students for life and work * Some outcomes focus too much on feelings,

in the 21st Century. values, attitudes and beliefs, and not enough

on the attainment of factual knowledge.



* Fosters more authentic forms of * Relies on subjective evaluation, rather than

assessment (i.e., students write to objective tests and measurements.

show they know how to use English

well, or complete math problems to

demonstrate their ability to solve

problems.



* Encourages decision making regarding * Undermines local control.

curriculum, teaching methods, school

structure and management at each

school or district level.




Finally, some people confuse outcomes-based education with Mastery Learning, an instructional
model conceived by John Carroll in 1963 and developed by Benjamin Bloom. Both outcome-
based education and Mastery Learning are based on the assumption that all students can master
tasks and materials if given enough time.
OUTCOMES-BASED EDUCATION

In its continuing quest for excellence and in the spirit of continuous quality improvement,
outcomes-based education was implemented at the Technological Institute of the Philippines as a
strategy to achieve the long-term objectives of the institution for its graduates.

The TIP Implementation of outcomes-based education was driven by the following external
entities: 1) Regulatory bodies such as the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the
Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), International Maritime Organization (IMO), among
others, 2) Local and international accrediting bodies, specifically, the Philippine Association of
Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation (PACUCOA), the Philippine
Technological Council-Accreditation and Certification Board for Engineering and Technology -
Engineering Accreditation Commission (PTC - ACBET - EAC), and ABET, Inc., 3)
International certifying bodies, and 4) Feedback from other external constituents.

It is also guided by existing TIP internal policies and initiatives: 1) The TIP Vision, Mission,
Core Values, and Core Competencies, 2) TIP Quality Policy, and 3) Other TIP initiatives that
supported the OBE implementation such as a) the TIP Faculty and Staff Development Program,
and b) The TIP Student Development Program.

In support of TIPs outcomes-based education and as a strategy to promote academic excellence,
TIP has also embarked on a proactive plan to implement outcomes-based teaching and learning
or OBTL in all its academic programs using the City University of Hong Kong OBTL model.

Dr. Elizabeth Q. Lahoz, TIP President, launched the full implementation of outcomes-based
teaching and learning in all academic programs of both TIP Manila and TIP Quezon City starting
SY 2010-2011. This was initially implemented in SY 2009-2010 at TIP Quezon City with Civil
Engineering and Computer Engineering as pilot programs.

The framework which TIP adopted in its OBTL implementation revolves around three important
elements: 1) Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs), 2) Teaching and Learning Activities (TLAs)
and 3) Assessment Tasks (ATs).

OBTL is an approach where teaching and learning activities are developed to support the
learning outcomes (University of Hong Kong, 2007). It is a student-centered approach for the
delivery of educational programs where the curriculum topics in a program and the courses
contained in it are expressed as the intended outcomes for students to learn. It is an approach in
which teachers facilitate and students find themselves actively engaged in their learning. It is
about re-aligning intended learning outcomes with teaching and assessment, focusing on what
graduates know, what they can do and their personal attributes (City University of Hong Kong,
2007).

The intended learning outcomes (ILOs) describe what the learners will be able to do when they
have completed their course or program. These are statements, written from the students'
perspective, indicating the level of understanding and performance they are expected to achieve
as a result of engaging in teaching and learning experience (Biggs and Tang, 2007). A teaching
and learning activity (TLA) is any activity which stimulates, encourages or facilitates learning of
one or more intended learning outcome. An assessment task (AT) can be any method of
assessing how well a set of intended learning outcome or ILO has been achieved.

For SY 2010-2011, three levels of intended learning outcomes were defined, specifically, at the
institutional level, program level, and course level. The TIP institutional outcomes statement was
formulated based on the TIP graduate attributes. Seminar-workshops on re-alignment of all
outcomes at the program level were also done. Capacity building activities were conducted to
equip all faculty members and academic officers with the knowledge and pedagogical skills
needed for the effective implementation of OBTL. A series of seminar workshops was conducted
as part of capacity building for faculty members in designing intended learning outcomes,
teaching and learning activities and assessment tasks. Evaluation rubrics were also developed
and deployed for students assessment. All course syllabi were also revised to incorporate
intended learning outcomes, teaching and learning activities and assessment tasks.

All faculty members were required to introduce the OBTL concepts in the instructional process
through the application of appropriate teaching and learning activities and assessment tasks that
facilitate achievement of the intended learning outcomes.

A review of the pilot implementation of OBTL was conducted and the result was used in the
continual quality improvement of the process, specifically in the areas of information
dissemination, capacity building, and in the conduct of teaching and learning activities.

It is hoped that the full implementation of OBTL as part of TIPs OBE would hasten the
realization of TIPs mission "to transform students into graduates with full competence in their
fields of study and who also possess Filipino values, industry-desired values, and global citizen
values"









TEACHING AND LEARNING MODELS
The models of teaching have been grouped into four families that share orientations toward
human beings and how they learn. These are the social family, the information-processing
family, the personal family, and the behavioral systems family.
INFORMATION PROCESSING MODELS
When asked to identify the purpose of teaching, many people will respond: "To impart the
curriculum," "to pass on knowledge to a new generation," or "to teach stuff." Although all
attempts to educate a student involve information processing, many methods and theories are
designed specifically to help students acquire and operate on data.
The models presented here represent a distinct philosophy about how people think and about
how teachers can impact the way students deal with the information they are receiving. These
models are not constructed around mechanistic theories about the human mind. Some, in fact,
have rather unstructured views of information handling. They also vary in the depth of their
approach, from a narrow focus on memorization to specific types of inductive thinking.
Models focusing on information processing come from several sources:
1. Metacognition.
From the earliest gathering of Greeks in a bathhouse to the remote cogitations of a pioneer in an
outhouse, philosophers have thought about thought, and about how inductive and deductive
thinking function. The theories have led to our preoccupation with right brain/left brain thinking,
Gardner's seven intelligences and curriculum adapted to the developmental readiness of the
learner. Computer simulations of mental processes have been developed, and a wide range of
PC's are available. I can now carry an external harddrive (a portable PC) to support my internal
harddrive (the brain).
2. Learning theorists.
The belief that we use previous learned concepts to process incoming information is at the heart
of these theories. Verbal learning and experiential learning models have evolved from the efforts
of David Ausubel and Jerome Bruner and his associates. These strategies provide a set of
concepts that alter an individual's thinking processes.
3. The academic disciplines.
Many models have been developed to teach either the major concepts or the systems of inquiry
used by the disciplines. The underlying assumption is that, as students learn the processes and
ideas of the discipline, they incorporate them into their own systems and behave differently as a
result. Joseph Schwab and his associates of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study committee
developed this model as one of the chief methods for a biology course for secondary schools.
4. Developmental studies of the human intellect. Investigators have also studied the
development of intellectual processes. These studies provide a tentative map of intellectual
development, but are useful in generating theories about how to increase intellectual
development. Piaget and Ericson's work serves as a foundation for these models.
Information processing models emphasize strategies that adopt our own natural curiosity and
desire to make sense of the world around us. These tools allow us to acquire and organize data,
identify problems and generate solutions.
Information processing models include:
Concept Attainment
This model, built around the studies of thinking conducted by Jerome Bruner, is designed to help
students learn concepts for organizing information and to help students become more effective at
learning concepts. It includes an efficient method for presenting organized information from a
wide range of areas of study to students of every stage of development.
Inductive Thinking
The ability to create concepts is generally regarded as one of the basic thinking skills. This
model induces students to find and organize information, to create names for concepts, and to
explore ways of becoming more skillful at discovering and organizing information and at
creating and testing hypotheses describing relationships among sets of data. The model, evolved
from the work of Hilda Taba, is used in wide variety of curriculum areas and with students of all
ages.
Inquiry Training
Designed to teach students to engage in causal reasoning and to become more fluent and precise
in asking questions, building concepts and hypotheses, and testing them, this model was first
formulated by Richard Suchman. Although originally used with the natural sciences it has also
been applied in the social sciences and in training programs with personal and social content.
Advance Organizers
During the last twenty years this model, formulated by David Ausubel has become one of the
most researched in the information processing family. It is designed to provide students with a
cognitive structure for comprehending material presented through lectures, readings, and other
media. It has been employed with almost every conceivable content and with students of every
age. It can be easily combined with other models- for example, when presentations are mixed
with inductive activity.
Memorization
Mnemonics are strategies for memorizing and assimilating information. Teachers can use
mnemonics to guide their presentations of material (teaching in such a way that students can
easily absorb the information), and they can teach devices that students can use to enhance their
individual and cooperative study of information and concepts. This model has also been tested
over many curriculum areas and with students of many ages and characteristics. As indicated
previously, some of the applications of memorization strategies have had dramatic effect.
The Developing Intellect
Models based on studies of students' intellectual development (Piaget, Kohlberg, Sullivan, and
Sigel) are used to help adjust instruction to match the stage of maturity of an individual student
and to design ways of increasing the student's rate of development. The model is useful in
various educational settings and with all content. The models are frequently used to accelerate
growth in environmentally disadvantaged children. The applications for other students are just as
important.
Scientific Inquiry
A number of models have been developed to teach academic content with the methods by which
it was created. Such models teach the scientific method, the fundamental concepts of the
disciplines and basic information.
The long-term goal of all information processing models is to teach students how to think
effectively. Complex intellectual strategies allow students to absorb more concepts and
information.
THE PERSONAL FAMILY MODELS
Focus on the Person
Each of us sees the world from a different perspective, a perspective that derives from our
experiences, environment and relationships. We each carry around a different set of lenses
through which we interpret events, translate language and transform information- giving it new
meaning. Common understandings must occur if we are to work successfully together in our
workplace and community. Our social context provides our language and the other artifacts of
culture. Our environment shapes how we behave and affects how we feel and we, in turn, shape
our environment. While our lives have much continuity we also possess great capacity to change.
The Personal Family models can be used in several ways. They can be used to moderate the
entire learning environment. We can use these models to enhance the personal qualities and
feelings of our students and to look for opportunities to make them partners with us and to
communicate affirmatively with them. We use nondirective techniques when we are counseling
the students, synectics to enhance creativity, classroom meetings to build the community of
learners.
Personal models have been adopted as a nondirective core of schools like A.S. Neil's
Summerhill, or as a major component of a school (Chamberlin and Chamberlin, 1943). Certain
approaches to teaching academic subjects have been developed around personal models. The
"experience" methods for teaching reading, for example, use student dictated stories as the initial
reading materials and student-selected literature as the chief materials once initial competence
has been established.
A major thesis of this family of models is that the better-developed, more affirmative, self
actualizing learners have increased learning capabilities. Thus, personal models will increase
academic achievement by tending to the learners. This thesis is supported by a number of studies
(Roebuck, Buhler, and Aspy, 1976) that indicate that the students of teachers who incorporate
personal models into their repertoires increase their achievement.
The personal family models begin with the perspective of the individual and allow teachers to
impact self awareness so that learners become responsible of their own growth. Self actualization
leads to lifelong learning skills that promote quality of life.
Nondirective Teaching
Developed from counseling theory the model brings student and teacher together in a
cooperative effort to guide the student to autonomy as a learner. The teacher acts as a guide and
facilitator providing coaching assistance where necessary. The model has several applications:
students may work in a laissez faire program and decide what they will learn next and why. The
model may be used in conjunction with other models to insure that the teacher maintains contact
as a guide for the student. It is a useful tool when students are planning independent or
cooperative learning. It is also valuable in advisory programs to help students understand what
they are thinking and feeling.
Synectics
A brainstorming tool that feeds creativity and allows students to escape the bounds of their
thinking and gain new perspective and a new framework for thinking. The model encourages
rapport and warmth among participants and creates excitement as students learn to use it
independently and in cooperative efforts.

Awareness Training

Useful in helping students to understand themselves. The strategies lend to reflection about
interpersonal relationships, self image, and presentation of self.
The Classroom Meeting

A counseling process designed to allow students to become responsible for their classroom
environment in terms of academic tasks and respect for one another. It provides assistance with
personal and social development and social skills.
THE SOCIAL FAMILY MODELS
Cooperative Learning Models
The social models combine a belief about learning and a belief about society. The belief about
learning is that cooperative behavior is stimulating not only socially but also intellectually and,
hence, that tasks requiring social interaction will stimulate learning. The belief about society is
that a central role of education is to prepare citizens to perpetuate a democratic social order.
The combination of these two beliefs has resulted in the development of a large number of
models that have great potential for our teaching repertoires. Also, many of the social theorists
have not only built rationales for their models, but have raised serious questions about the
adequacy of the current dominant patterns of schooling. In most schools the majority of learning
tasks are structured by teachers for individuals. Most interaction between teachers and students is
in the pattern of recitation-the teacher directs questions about what has been studied, calls on an
individual who responds, and then affirms the response or corrects it (Sirotnik, 1983).
Many developers of the cooperative learning models believe that they have developed important
additions to the storehouse of models and that teacher-dominated recitation is actually bad for
society. The social models received much attention in the 1930s and 1940s, when a number of
studies were conducted of the effects of the schools that used democratic-process models as their
cores. Many of the studies were in response to serious questions raised by concerned citizens
about whether such a degree of reliance on social purposes would retard the students' academic
development. The studies generally indicated that social and academic goals are not at all
incompatible. The students from those schools were not disadvantaged; in many respects they
outperformed the others (Chamberlin and Chamberlin, 1943).
Recently, interest has been renewed in research on the cooperative learning models.
Sophisticated research procedures used by three groups of researchers, Johnson and Johnson,
(1974, 1981), Robert Slavin (1983) and Sharan of Israel (1980), have implications for the entire
family of models. The Johnsons and Slavin have studied whether cooperative tasks and reward
structures affect learning outcomes positively. Also, they have asked whether group cohesion,
cooperative behavior, and intergroup relations are improved through cooperative learning
procedures. In some of their investigations they have examined the effects of cooperative task
and reward structures on "traditional" learning tasks, in which students are presented with
material to master. The evidence is largely affirmative. Classrooms organized so that students
work in pairs and larger groups, tutor each other, and share rewards are characterized by greater
mastery of material than the common individual-study and recitation pattern. Also, the shared
responsibility and interaction produce more positive feelings toward tasks and others, generate
better intergroup relations, and result in better self-images for students with histories of poor
achievement. In other words, the results generally affirm the assumptions that underlie these
models.
Sharan's team has confirmed the results of the Johnson and Slavin teams, but it has also learned
that the stronger the model implemented-the more that cooperative endeavor replaced directive
recitation and individual study-the more positive the results. He has also demonstrated that
cooperative learning is appropriate for a broad range of learning objectives: the "basic skills" as
well as the more complex cognitive and social goals of schooling.
An exciting use of the social models is in combination with models from the other families, in an
effort to combine the effects of several models. For example, Baveja, Showers, and Joyce (1985)
conducted a study in which concept and inductive procedures were carried out in cooperative
groups. The effects fulfilled the promise of the marriage of the information-processing and social
models, and the treatment generated gains twice those of a comparison group that received
intensive individual and group tutoring over the same material.
Group Investigation
Based on John Dewey's insistence that the principles of democracy be imparted in the everyday
classroom experience, this model encourages cooperative inquiry into social and academic
problems. Teachers facilitate students in group work that incorporates the scientific methodology
for research. The strategy yields high academic and affective gains.
Role Playing

Students gain new insights into social problems and concerns as they act out conflicts, assume
roles different from their own and feel the difference. Especially valuable in the social sciences
and cultural studies it has found recent exciting use in science classes as well.
Jurisprudential Inquiry
Utilizes the case study method of law to explore social problems and policy. Students identify
the problem, look at various options and come to understand policy formulation. Applicable in
all subjects as most are impacted by policy.
Social Science Inquiry and Laboratory Training

Adapted from the world of work these strategies develop self awareness and responsibility to
others in terms of mutual respect and commitment to the team effort.
THE BEHAVIORAL SYSTEMS MODELS
Behavior Theory
Behavioral models of learning and instruction have their origins in the classical conditioning
experiments of Pavlov (1927), the work of Thorndike on reward learning (1909, 1911, 1913),
and the studies of Watson and his associates (Watson, 1916; Watson and Rayner, 1921), who
applied Pavlovian principles to the psychological disorders of human beings. In the past twenty
years behavior (learning) theory, systematically applied in school settings, has been greatly
influenced by B. F. Skinner's Science and Human Behavior (1953) and J. Wolpe's Psychotherapy
by Reciprocal Inhibition (1958).
In the late 1950s educators began to employ behavioral techniques, particularly forms of
contingency management and programmed learning materials, in school settings. For some types
of learners these have had great success. For example, some youngsters who previously had
made no progress in language development and social learning are now trainable, and often able
to mix with normal individuals. Milder forms of learning problems have responded to behavior
models as well (Becker, 1977, 1980, 1981.)
During the past ten years there has been an impressive amount of research demonstrating the
effectiveness of behavioral techniques with a wide range of problems, from phobias to social
skill deficits, behavioral problems, and test anxiety. The research also indicates that these
procedures can be used effectively in group settings and by laypeople. Behavior theory offers an
array of procedures that are extremely useful to teachers and curriculum planners.
The educator who understands the impact of environmental variables and relationships can apply
the findings directly to his or her work-changing student behavior. The leverage of external
control can also be given to the individual. If the teacher can, by appropriate techniques,
ascertain and control the external variables, so can the student. Thus, what appears at first to be a
technique for controlling others increasing their capabilities for self-control. These tools have
proven quite effective in the area of Exceptional Education, but are not limited in their effect to
that realm.
Many people have assumed, quite erroneously, that many children have "blocks to learning"
(internal states that cannot be changed). Yet in recent years, we have seen numerous examples of
growth through the systematic application of learning principles. Other more typical, but
frustrating, behavioral problems of normal children have been handled successfully with
behavioral techniques.
The Contingency Management Model is widely used with students who have major learning
and behavior problems. However, many school administrators now believe it is essential for all
teachers to possess, the knowledge and skills of this model, which they regard as the heart of
objective classroom management. Knowing how to conceptualize and describe behavior In
discrete, observable terms, noticing when and under what conditions it usually occurs,
identifying more appropriate behaviors and suitable reinforcers, and finally instituting a
reinforcement program may soon be standard requirements for many teachers.
Programmed instruction, a variant of contingency management, has found its way into numerous
basic skills curricula in reading and math. The approach is thought to be important to youngsters
who need a high degree of success and immediate reinforcement or feedback about their
progress. The training model relies on modeling through observation and practice as the means
of obtaining new behaviors or eliminating old ones, although it also uses stimulus control and
feedback.
Many educators, believe that one purpose of schooling is to increase students' self-esteem and
life skills. These models offer one way of addressing preventive mental health as well as basic
intellectual knowledge and skills. In many classrooms the primary instructional objective is to
get the student to respond to a subject-matter stimulus. The learner connects appropriate
responses to various stimuli. The football player fires off the line on the appropriate count. The
child 'udders' the word 'cow' when a flashcard with the letters is displayed. Stimulus
discrimination is particularly important in the learning situation. When we respond differently to
different stimuli, we are distinguishing or discriminating between their properties. Most subject
matter is brought to control behavior through discrimination training.
Mastery Learning

Material for learning is arranged from simple to complex. Material is presented to the learner as
an individual through appropriate materials. Students maintain their own pace as they master or
remediate the information.
Direct Instruction
Information is fed by the teacher or media and the learner responds in lockstep fashion.
Repeating the information of responding to the stimuli with the appropriate response. Choral
responses in language labs are an example.
Learning Self Control
Students are taught that how they feel is a product of their own effort and that they are
responsible for their actions and the impact their actions have on others. Students learn to cope
with fears, phobias, aversions and the maladaptive behaviors they have exhibited.
Training for Skill and Concept Development

Skills are acquired through modeling demonstrations, practice, feedback, and coaching until the
skill is acquired. Simulations may also be used in which the skill may be practiced.
Assertive Training

Leads to honest and open communication in the classroom. Students learn how to reveal their
feelings without harming or necessarily offending others. A productive classroom is the end
result.