The ostriches, the peacocks and the beavers

Outcome-based education, as discussed in Chapter 6, is about more than defining and publishing a set of learning outcomes that must be achieved before the end of the course. OBE is characterised by a curriculum with the learning strategies and learning opportunities designed to ensure that students achieve the learning outcomes specified and with an assessment process matched to the learning outcomes. Individual students are assessed to ensure that they achieve the outcomes. Remediation and enrichment for students is provided as appropriate.

Teachers react differently when it comes to implementing OBE. Some consider OBE to be a passing fad and make no effort to either prepare learning outcomes or incorporate them into their teaching. They bury their heads in the sand and can be likened to ostriches (Harden 2007). Then there are teachers who work hard producing a set or list of learning outcomes that is prominently displayed for visitors or programme assessors – the peacocks. Unfortunately they do not make use of the learning outcomes in their teaching, so their efforts are to no avail. The teachers who do successfully implement an OBE approach are those who believe that OBE is the way to design, deliver and document instruction and work hard to make this happen – the beavers.

Planning an OBE programme

An OBE curriculum starts with the question – what are the expected learning outcomes to be achieved by the end of the programme and what capabilities should the graduate have as a practising doctor? An outcome framework is used, as described in Chapter 8, to describe the broad performance capabilities. These in turn are specified in more detail. For example, in the broad domain of patient management a more detailed set of learning outcomes includes surgery, drugs, physiotherapy, social dimensions and alternative therapies.