MODULE 1

SHIFT OF EDUCATIONAL FOCUS FROM CONTENT TO LEARNING OUTCOMES

Learning Outcomes
1. Explain at least three characteristics of outcomes-based education ( OBE).
2. Distinguish among institutional outcomes, program outcomes, course outcomes
and learning instructional outcomes.
3. Formulate learning outcomes based on given educational objectives.
Reduced to the barest components, the educative process happens between the teacher and
the student.
Education originated from the terms “ educare” or “educere” which means” to draw out.”
Belief that education is a “pouring in” process wherein the teacher was the infalible giver of
knowledge and the students was the passive recipient .
Focus of instruction was content and subject matter.
Regards education basically in terms of designating a set of subjects to take and when the
course is completed, we pronounce these students “ educated,” assuming that the instruction
and activities we provided will lead to the desired knowledge , skills and other activities that
we think that the course passers would possess.
The advent of technology caused a change of perspective in education, natioanllay
and internationally.
The teacher ceased to be the sole source of knowledge .
With knowledge explosion, students are surrounded with various sources of facts
and information accessible through user-friendly technology.
The teacher has become a facilitator of knowledge who assists in the organization,
interpretation and validation of acquired facts and information
1.1 OBE: MATCHING
INTENTIONS WITH
ACCOMPLISHMENT
The change in educational perspective is called Outcomes-Based Education ( OBE)
which hs three characteristics:
1. It is student-centered; that is, it places the students at the center of the process by
focusing on Student Learning Outcomes ( SLO).
2, It is faculty-driven; that is, it encourages faculty responsibility for teaching ,
assessing program outcomes and motivating participation form the students.
3. It is meaningful; that is, it provides data to guide the teacher in making valid and
continuing improvement in institution and assessment activities.
To implement outcomes-based education on the subject or course level, the following procedure
is recommended:
1. Identification of the educational objectives of the subject/course.
Educational objectives are the broad goals that the subject/course expects to achieve, and
defining in general terms the knowledge, skills and attitude that the teacher will help the students
to attain. The objectives are stated from the point of view of the teacher such as “ to develop, to
provide, to enhance, to inculcate, etc. “
2. Listing of learning outcomes specified for each subject/course objective.
Since subject/course objectives are broadly stated , they do not provide detailed guide to be
teachable and measurable. Learning outcomes are states as concrete active verbs such as to
demonstrate, to explain , to differentiate, to illustrate etc.
A good source of learning outcome statements is the taxonomy of educational objectives by
Benjamin Bloom.
Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives is grouped into three:
Cognitive, also called knowledge, refers to mental skills such as remembering,
understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, synthesizing/creating.
Psychomotor, also referred to as skills, includes manual or physical skills, which
proceed from mental activities and range from the simplest to the complex such as
observing, initiating, practicing, adapting and innovating.
Affective, also known as attitude, refers to growth in feelings or emotions from the
simplest behavior to the most complex such as receiving, responding, valuing,
organizing , and internalizing.
3. Drafting outcomes assessment procedure.
The procedure will enable the teacher to determine the degree to which the students
are attaining the desired learning outcomes .
It identifies for every outcome the data that will be gathered which will guide the
selection of the assessment tools to be used and at what point assessment will be
done.

1.2 THE OUTCOMES OF EDUCATION

Outcomes-based education focuses classroom instruction on the skills and
competencies that students must demonstrate when they exit.
There are two types of outcomes: immediate and deferred outcomes

Immediate outcomes are competencies/skills acquired upon completion of a subject,

a grade level, a segment of the program, or of the program itself ( e.g. , ability to
communicate in writing and speaking, mathematical problem solving skill etc.)

Deferred outcomes refer to the ability to apply the cognitive, psychomotor and
affective skills/competencies in various situations many years after completion of a
subject, grade level or degree program ( e.g., success in professional practice or
occupation, promotion in a job, success in career planning, health & wellness, awards
and recognition)
1.3 Institutional, Program, Course and Learning Outcomes
These are the attributes that a graduate of an institution is expected to demonstrate
3 or more than 3 years after graduation.
Outcomes in Outcomes-Based education (OBE) come in different levels:
1. institutional
2. program
3. course, and
4. learning /instructional/lesson outcomes
Institutional outcomes are statements of what the graduates of an educational
institution are supposed to be able to do beyond graduation.
Program outcomes are what graduates of a particular educational program or
degree s are able to do at the completion of the degree.
Course or subject outcomes are what the students should be able to demonstrate
at the end of a course or subject.
Learning or instructional outcomes are what the students should be able to do
after a lesson or instruction.
Institutional outcomes are the most broad . These institutional outcomes become
more specific in the level of the program or degree outcomes , much more specific
in the level of course or subject outcomes and most specific in the learning or
instructional outcomes.
Educational objectives are formulated from the point of view of the teacher.
Learning outcomes are what the students are supposed to demonstrate after an
instruction.
1.4 SAMPLE EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES AND ELARNING OUTCOMES IN
ARALING PANLIPUNAN ( K TO 12)
1.5 Exercises
A. Give & explain 3 characteristics of OBE.
B. Distinguish among institutional, program, course and lesson, instructional outcomes.
C. The following are educational objectives for the subject Elementary Science ( K to 12) .
For every educational objective, formulate 2 learning outcomes :
1. To provide instruction that will enable the pupils to understand their immediate physical
environment by using their senses, questioning, sharing their ideas and identifying sample
cause-effect relationships ( cognitive objective)
2. To equip the pupils with the skill to conduct guided investigation by following a series of
steps that includes making and testing predictions, collecting and recording data, discovering
patterns and suggesting possible explanations ( psychomotor objective).
3. To encourage among the pupils a deep understanding and appreciation of the differences
of the plant and animal groups found in the locality.
D. Differentiate each of the following pairs by explaining the meaning of each and giving
examples for further clarification.
1. educational objective and learning outcome
2. immediate outcome and deferred outcome
3. content and leaning outcome
4. Institutional and program outcome
5. Program outcomes and course outcomes
6. Student-centered instruction and content-centered instruction
7. “ to develop communication skills “ and “ can communicate orally and in writing”

MODULE 2: MEAUREMENT, ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION IN OBE

LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Distinguish among measurement , assessment and evaluation.
2. Explain the meaning of assessment FOR, OF, and AS learning.
Introduction

With the changes of focus in instruction from content to elarning outcomes came the
need to redefine and clarify the terms used to determine the program of students
towards attainment of the desired learning outcomes . These are measurement,
evaluation and assessment.
2.1 Measurement is the process determining or describing the attributes or
characteristics of physical objects generally in terms of quantity. When we measure ,
we sue some standard instrument to find out how long, heavy, hot, voluminous, cold,
fast or straight some things are. Such instruments may be ruler, scale, thermometer
or pressure gauge.
To measure is to apply a standard measuring device to an object, group of objects,
events or situations according to procedure determined by one who is skilled in the
use of such device.
Sometimes, we can measure physical quantities by combining directly measurable
quantities to form derived quantities. For example, to find the area of a rectangular
piece of paper, we simply multiply the lengths of the sides of the paper.
In the field of education, however, the quantities and qualities of interest are abstract,
unseen and cannot eb touched and so the measurement process becomes difficult;
hence, the need to specify the learning outcomes to be measured. For instance,
knowledge of the subject matter is often measured through standardized test
results. In this case, the measurement procedure is testing. The same concept can be
measured in another way. We can ask a group of experts to rate a student ‘s ( or a
teacher’s) knowledge of the subject matter in a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being the lowest
and 5 the highest. In this procedure, knowledge of the subject matter is measured
through perceptions.
1. Types of Measurement
Measurement can therefore be objective ( as in testing) or subjective ( as in
perceptions).
In the example cited, testing produces objective measurement while expert rating
provide subjective measurement.
Objective measurements are more stable than subjective measurements in the sense
that repeated measurement of the same quantity or quality of interest will produce
more or less the same outcome. For this reason many people prefer objective
measurements over subjective measurements whenever they are available.
Howver, there are certain facets of the quantity or quality of interest that cannot be
successfully captured by objective procedures but which can be done by subjective
methods ( e.g., aesthetic appeal of a product or project of a student, student’s
performance in a drama, etc. It follows that it may be best to use both methods of
assessment whenever the constraints of time and resources permit.
Whether one uses an objective or subjective assessment procedure, the underlying
principle in educational measurement is summarized by the following formula:
Measurement of Quantity or Quality of Interest = True value plus random error.
Each measurement of the quantity of interest has two components: a true value of
the quantity and a random error components.
The objective in educational measurement is to estimate or approximate , as loosely
as possible , the true value of the quantity of interest , eg., true knowledge of the
subject matter . This is a tall order and one which will occupy most of our time in
this particular course.
Objective measurements are measurements that do not depend on the person or
individual taking the measurements. Regardless of who is taking the measurement,
the same measurement values should be obtained when using an objective
assessment procedure. In contrast, subjective measurements often differ from one
assessor to the next even if the same quality or quantity is being measured.
2. Measuring Indicators, Variables and Factors
An educational variable ( denoted by an English aphabet X) is a measurable
characteristic of a student . Variables may be directly measurable as in X= age or X=
height of a student. However, many times, a variable cannot be directly measured
like when we want to measure “ class participation” of a student. For those variables
where direct measurements are not feasible, we introduce the concept of indicators.
For the variable X= class participation, we can let Ii, I2 I… I 3 , denote the
participation of of a student in n class recitations and let x = sum of the I’s divided
by n recitations. Thus, if there were n = 10 recitations and the student participated
in 5 of these 10, then X= 5/10 or 50%.
Indicators are the building blocks of educational measurement upon which all
other forms of measurement are built. A group of indicators constitute a variable. A
group of variables from a construct or a factor. The variables which form a factor
correlate highly with ach other but have low correlations with variables in another
group.
Example: The following variables were measured in a battery of tests:
X1=computational skills X2=reading skills
X3= vocabulary
X4= logic and reasoning
X5= sequences and series
X6= manual dexterity
These variables can be grouped as follows:
Group 1 : (X1, X4, X5)= mathematical ability factor
Group 2: (X2, X3)= language ability factor
Group 3: (X6)= psychomotor ability factor
The first group is called a” mathematical ability” factor , the second group is called a “language
ability” factor while the third group (with only one variable ) is called a “ psychomotor ability” factor.
In educational measurement, we shall be concerned with indicators, variables and factors of interest in
the field of education.
2.2 Assessment
The term assessment is derived from the Ltin word assidere which means “to sit beside” ( Wiggins,
1993).
Assessment is the process of gathering evidence of students’ performance over a period of time to
determine learning and mastery of skills. Such evidences of learning can take the forms of dialogue
record, journals, written work, portfolios, tests and other learning tasks. Assessment requires review of
journal entries, written , presentation, research papers, essays, story, test results.
The overall goal of assessment is to improve student learning and provide students,
parents and teachers with reliable information regarding student progress and extent
of attainment of the expected learning outcomes.
Assessments use, as basis , the levels of achievement and standards required for the
curricular goals appropriate for the grade or year level . Assessment results show the
more permanent learning and clearer picture of the student’s ability.
Assessment of skill attainment is relatively easier than assessment of understsanding
and other mental ability. Skills can be practiced and are readily demonstrable. Either
the skill exists at a certain level or it does not. Assessment of understanding is much
more complex . We can assess a person’s knowledge in a number of ways but we
need to infer from certain indicators of understanding through written descriptions.