Reflective essay on outcome based education: the relative advantages and disadvantages in Sri Lankan Undergraduate education

Commission on Higher Education defines outcome-based education (OBE) as ‘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’. Spady, a leading education disciple defined OBE as ‘organising for results: basing what we do instructionally on the outcomes we want to achieve’. In my opinion, OBE as the name implies focuses on the learning outcome that the learner is accountable for at the end of a learning process. This gives a clear idea of the desired learning outcomes at the beginning without restricting the teaching or learning methods to achieve those goals. Identifying the learning outcomes determines what is taught and assessed and this help both teachers and students to differentiate ‘must know’ from ‘nice to know’ and useful in preparation and planning for assessment.
OBE is a student centric approach which made the paradigm shift of educational process from the exam driven traditional system with predetermined time and variable achievements to the ongoing assessment based modern system with predetermined achievements and variable time. In the traditional system of learning the syllabus is content based and abstract while in the OBE approach is more integrated and the learning seems to be more relevant and connected to real- life situations which make the learners more motivated to the learning process.
Clearly defined learning outcomes are very helpful in school to work transitions. Learners can study learning outcomes of variety of available educational programmes and decide on which one to follow depending on their future career plans and the market demands rather than blindly following a course and later wondering to what to do with that qualification which is commonly observed in current Sri Lankan context. Similarly, OBE helps companies to determine the outcomes achieved by potential employees in the recruitment process. Therefore, setting clear cut learning outcomes by educational institutes improves the employability of students. Due to rapid globalisation, and the advancement in the fields of science and technology, requirements in the labour market are also rapidly evolving. Therefore, some skills which were deemed essential till recently are becoming obsolete while new skills are gaining paramount of importance. University graduates must be well equipped to adapt to these changes to secure high employability. Innovative changes in university curricula as well as in delivery methods are an effective method of enabling graduates to be better equipped for the demands of the labour market. Therefore, when designing the curriculum, universities need to consider the current and future requirements of the labour market and the university system must be willing to adopt accordingly. The majority of programmes offered in Sri Lankan Universities are focused on building the intellectual capabilities to learn as oppose to ready to practice mostly taught by professors with academic excellence. By bring in the right mix of academic and professional staff for teaching will help to make students more employable. This is an area where we are lagging behind at the moment. However, obtaining commitment of professionals who are being highly paid at the private sector to improve the university system can be a problem. OBE will pave the path to solve the burning issue of unemployment of graduates in Sri Lanka. Since education is an investment, and especially when given free, unemployment of graduates means we are not in a position to obtain a return on the investment made on their education. However, this is not a problem confined only to the university system of our country: according to Asian Development Bank report this is a universal phenomenon observed among Asian universities. The report recommends universities to align more closely with the needs of the labour market to ensure graduates to have the appropriate knowledge and skills demanded by the employers.
In medical education OBE  approach is still in its infancy especially in the South Asian region. However European countries have implemented OBE in medical field successfully. The Institute for  International Medical Education (IIME) has developed a set of learning outcomes, under seven domains in 2002. These domains represent the minimum core competences that are expected from all physicians: professional values, attitudes, behaviour and ethics; scientific foundation of medicine; clinical skills; communication skills; population health and health systems; management of information; and critical thinking and research. Unfortunately, in Sri Lanka even 15 years later we have failed to identify the necessity of including learning outcomes into our medical curriculum to improve certain important domains mainly based on attitudes or 'Heart' component of the Bloom's taxonomy of learning theory such as professional values, attitudes, behaviour and ethics and communication skills. Undoubtedly Sri Lankan Medical trainees are at a higher position when the clinical skills are considered. However the gradual deterioration observed in the quality of medical care provided is of major concern. I perceive this lack of focus on attitude based outcomes in our medical training had paved the path to current crisis in the medical system where once a noble profession miserably has downgraded to such a level to taking ransom of lives of poor patients by declaring trade union actions to gain demands. However, as medical students we were lucky to have dedicated teachers who taught us not only the subject matter but also the ethics and value systems related to our field.
When we were medical students, we were taught in the conventional teacher centered approach. We were clueless about the expected learning outcomes. According to our understanding, learning outcome was to get through the tough exams. The proxy we have those days to get an idea of the learning outcome was the past papers and what the seniors told us about the questions asked at the viva. We were studying like machines to gain knowledge and skills where most of the teachers put their teaching emphasis on. Sometimes we were wondering why certain subject areas are being taught, especially in the non-clinical ones, since we failed to make a connection of it with the real world situation. Introduction of modules at a later stage with explicit learning outcomes helped the students to make the connection between clinical and non-clinical subject areas in a more practical manner. For example in the Growth, Development and Nutrition module students learn about the nutrition requirements during different physiological stages of the life cycle, causes of nutrition problems and how to identify and manage them at different levels of care which encompasses components covered in Bio-Chemistry, Physiology, Paediatrics, Medicine and Community Medicine. However, some academics argue that certain students use the module system to identify areas they can skip without being failed at the assessment. But my argument is it is not the fault of the module system but due to omission of that area to the outcome assessment by the teacher.
In my experience as a medical officer both in the curative and preventive sector, disputes and allegations I have observed which were directed towards medical profession would have been prevented had our medical curriculum developers and teachers paid more attention in inculcating students' intangible learning outcomes such as communication skills, professional values, attitudes, behaviour and ethics.

Academic freedom and institutional autonomy

Magna Charta Universitatum is a reference for the fundamental values and principles of the universities. This document emphasizes the importance of institutional autonomy and academic freedom of the universities. These two concepts are generally considered together and often seem to be considered as two sides of the same coin. However these two terms have different meanings.

Academic freedom is the freedom of the academics to pursue their research, teaching, and learning. Magna Charta stated that 'freedom in research and training is the fundamental principle of university life, and governments and universities, each as far as in them lies, must ensure respect for this fundamental requirement'.

Academic freedom according to some school of thoughts has no limits; research and teaching can be done in any way imaginable. However majority will agree that academic freedom cannot be misused as an excuse for laziness or silly behaviour. Academic freedom does not grant freedom to academics to the extent that their research, teaching, learning and deriving conclusions and opinions are not abide by any standards. These work always need to be in accordance with the standards of their academic disciplines. Therefore, in this sense, academic freedom is not absolute.

Institutional autonomy include the right of universities to design their internal structures such as faculties and departments, develop their own policies with regard to their governance including appointment/ election of their their top level authorities. This protects universities from undue interference by governments. However, this doesn't mean that all universities can offer all degrees which would cause problems with regard to the requirements and expectations of the society and the industry. Governments need to carefully design minimum criteria and implementation mechanisms to ensure quality standards before a university could offer a new programme.

Most universities are at least partially funded by the government. Government funding means that money has come from the tax payers of the country. Therefore, accountability measures are needed to be in place to trace the financial handling at the university level and this should not be regarded as a threat to academic freedom and the institutional autonomy.

Some policy instruments which can either promote or impede academic freedom and institutional autonomy are legislation and regulation, education systems and structures, funding, projects and performance review.

References:


http://www.portlandpresspublishing.com/sites/default/files/Editorial/Wenner/WG_86/0860041.pdf


http://media.ehea.info/file/20161208-09-Bratislava/12/8/BFUG_SK_ME_52_9_Fundamental_values_669128.pdf

Different roles of academics today

Academic (noun) is defined in Oxford English dictionary as a teacher or scholar in a university or other institute of higher education. The main responsibilities of an academic are:

• To plan, design, develop and deliver a range of study study programmes which comply with the academic quality standards and regulations of the University
• To undertake high quality research
• To co-ordinate or supervise the work of research assistants and students

Accountabilities or Duties of an academic can be broadly divided into following three categories:

• Teaching and Learning
• Research
• Leadership, management and engagement

Teaching and learning is the role which comes into mind of the when they think about the role of an academic. However current academics play many other roles in addition to this 'main' role which also consume a significant proportion of their time. Academic need to assist the department Head to maintain the teaching standards to comply with the expectation and standards of the University by preparation of teaching and evaluation materials applying innovative, appropriate teaching techniques and assessment procedures to cover breadth and depth of the subject area. Curriculum and course design should be developed considering the available evidence, industrial demands and international standards. An academic should always update his/her knowledge through various methods including reading, engaging in activities of professional bodies and attending seminars, conferences and workshops.

When the area of research is considered, an academic need to carry out independent research with demonstrable impact and contribute to the reputation of research in the university through national/ international collaboration and publication in peer-reviewed international academic journals and other forms of dissemination achieving peer recognition. Through research activities he/she should generate significant external funding and knowledge transfer. An academic should also contribute to peer assessment by acting as an editor for journals, seeking membership of major committees and significant research bodies. Supervision of postgraduate research students and provision of technical inputs to colleagues in their research are also expected from an academic.

Duties and responsibilities which come under leadership, management and engagement include mentoring/ counseling of students/colleagues, promotion of interdisciplinary studies, and developing collaborative arrangements to support teaching. Another role an academic is expected to play is to develop networks, both internally and externally. Internal net works included working groups and committees which have input or contribution to cross university functions. External networks include professional bodies, employers’ associations, group of universities etc where he/she can contribute in the capacity as an external examiner or an advisor. An academic need to contribute to the planning and organising of the unit, undergraduate or postgraduate programmes, and admissions. He/she should contribute to strategic planning at university and also organize staff development and welfare activities.

On average teaching and learning activities contribute to 40-50% of the work load of an academic while the remaining 50-60% is distributed between other activities. Therefore we can see that the term lecturer we use to denote an academic is questionable in the modern world.