Outcomes Based Teaching and Learning at CityU

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• Outcomes Based Teaching and Learning at CityU
• Experience Sharing Sessions
• Feedback from Stakeholders
• 08.12.2006

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The Context

• Professional education
• Internationally competitive level
• Application-oriented teaching and learning
• (UGCs Road Map document of 2004)

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The Context (2)

• No. of courses 237(Fac/Sch/BST) 129 (CCCU)
  --- Total 396
• No. of Staff 356 (Fac/Sch/BST) 121 (CCCU) --
  Total 477 (including some TAs, PT staff,
  Research students)
• No. of Students 11293
•  
• Total no. of academic staff 963 as at end of
  2005
• Total 1st year intake 11770 as at end of 2005
• Total no. of students 25506 as at end of 2005

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Feedback from Staff - 1

• Those consulted 28 Meetings with groups of
  colleagues (total 115) in academic departments
  including Associate Deans some support
  departments, Faculty/School Offices, and EDO,
  from 19th Sept. to 6th Nov.
• Purpose
• To collect feedback on initial experience
• To inform colleagues of the communications from
  the UGC in the previous few months
• To inform colleagues of the work plan for OBTL
  for 06 07 the planned main events
• To inform colleagues of funding support for some
  types of activities

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Feedback from Staff - 2

• A majority had communicated ILOs, TLAs, and ATs
  to students before the start of the course
• Some colleagues did not have to make dramatic
  changes to their teaching
• Many suggested that OBTL had given them the
  opportunity to reflect on TLAs, ATs and the
  important question of alignment
• Some colleagues introduced self-assessment and
  peer assessment in class and found that the
  students could do a good job of reflecting on
  their learning
• A number of colleagues found that attendance and
  participation rates in class had improved

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Feedback from Staff - 3

• Concerns
• Workloads for both staff and students had
  increased
• OBTL approach not suitable for P/T programmes
• P/T and contract staff may not buy into OBTL
• Large class teaching and assessment with OBTL
  causing difficulties
• Assessment and grading in general need further
  consideration
• Suspicion that this is a paper exercise
• OBTL suitable for some disciplines and not for
  others
• This is culture change and takes time

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Feedback from students - 1

• Population 11,293
• Responses as at 28.11.06 2901 (25.7)

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Feedback from students - 2

• 9 items 5 point scale, strongly agree to
  strongly disagree, plus open comments
• I have been given a clear explanation of the
  Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) of the course.
• An explanation of the Intended Learning Outcomes
  (ILOs) helps me to set goals for my own learning.
• The action verb (e.g. to describe, to apply, to
  analyze) specified in each Intended Learning
  Outcome (ILO) gives me a clear idea of what I am
  expected to do.
• The action verb (e.g. to describe, to apply, to
  analyze) specified in each Intended Learning
  Outcome (ILO) helps me understand the standards
  required.
• I am given a clear explanation of the assessment
  criteria.

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Feedback from students - 3

• Being given a clear explanation of the assessment
  criteria, I feel more motivated to do my best
  work.
• I can see connection between the learning and
  assessment activities and the ILOs identified.
• I have become more self-directed to explore the
  subject further on my own.
• In comparison with other courses I am taking in
  this semester,
• I work harder in the course(s) offered in the
  OBTL framework.
• The amount of work and time required for
  course(s) in the OBTL framework is reasonable.
• I am more participative in the course(s) offered
  in the OBTL framework.
• My understanding of the subject matter in the
  course(s) offered in the OBTL framework is
  better.

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Findings Quantitative data - 1

• Any Surprises?

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Findings Quantitative data -2
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Findings Quantitative data - 3

• Around 40 to 50 of the respondents are neutral
  in answering the questions in the Survey.
• The proportion of respondents answering
  agree/strongly agree is greater than those
  answering disagree/ strongly disagree.

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Findings Qualitative data - 1

• Susans
• Roberts
• Others
• Total no. of students commenting 339

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Findings Qualitative data - 2

• Positive (as written)
• OBTL would allow flexibility and creativity for
  me in the course(s).
• Clear learning outcome can provide guideline and
  direction for us to study.
• OBTL really helps us to think over the whole
  structure and plan of learning
• Its like giving us a goal and direction to learn
  and what will be taught. So, we will not get lost
  easily, and we are more target-oriented to learn.
• Teachers setting "Intended Learning Outcomes"
  before class lets me have a clear idea about what
  I shall learn in every class and it also directs
  my independent learning.

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Findings Qualitative data - 3

• In comparison with traditional assessment, I like
  this new assessment (OBTL) method more. I hope
  more courses can be offered in the OBTL framework
  in the future.
• It is a good method to reduce students''
  workload.But the way to distinguish A, B,
  C-students is vague and can be a controversial
  one.
• I think OBTL is more fair to students.And
  competition becomes cooperation some how.We are
  more willing to share and discuss with others our
  work done.
• The course is systematic. It is easier for me to
  understand the standard of achievement.

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Findings Qualitative data - 4

• Negative
• The contents are not directly related to the
  outcome
• The obtl is a great theory but in practice if the
  goals are too high and the learner has more then
  3 subjects the demand is high and difficult to
  reach.
• The Intended Learinging Outcomes of most of the
  courses are vague.Moreover,it ONLY increase the
  workload of students.
• I feel more stressful in this system. The
  standard is very harsh.

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Findings Qualitative data - 5

• OBTL increases my workload and leaves little time
  for me to "digest" what I have learnt in the
  lecture. Every week, I am busy in completing
  weekly assignments, group projects and individual
  assignments. I can hardly squeeze 1 hour to
  revise the learnt materials. To me, without
  revision- or so-called "digestion process", I
  cannot recall the knowledge I have obtained in
  lessons.
• According to the "bell-shaped" assessment system,
  more or less 4 students can get A.
  However,under OBTL,no students can manage to get
  A grade!!!
• Many students think that this OBTL make us even
  harder to get A, because we need to get a
  certain score to obtain A.
• OBTL make us using too much time on the course
  work, and the workload is very high

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Findings Qualitative data - 6

• Others
• Please give us more details about this framework
  and hold some useful workshop. Thank you.
• often the ILOs has not been clearly presented in
  certain subjects, eg XX. Maybe it?s due to
  certain subject''s unique characteristics, but
  more efforts should be made in order to help
  students know what the subject''s requirements
  are. (the assessment rubrics of MIS is a good
  example of how we can achieve an A under certain
  circumstances.)
• OBTL is only useful in small classes where the
  total number of students for the course do not
  exceed like 100 students. Otherwise the idea is
  completely ruined as more students will end up
  getting higher grades and it will be difficult to
  distinguish the best from the rest and the
  results will be a mockery.

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Findings Qualitative data - 7

• I believe OBTL is a good initiative to allow
  students to be assess based on their learning /
  outcome in a course. Unfortunately, at this early
  stage of its implementation, it has certain
  drawbacks. The most significant is that
  assessment through OBTL actually is quite
  subjective. Different tutors have different sets
  of standards of what does and does not meet the
  ILOs. And because of this, the grades of students
  tend to vary greatly. I believe it is important
  for the ILOs of each course to be more clearly
  defined to enable the implementation of a more
  objective grading criteria and at the same time
  for teachers of the same course to have a similar
  interpretations for the ILOs.

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Conclusions

• Knowledge is experience, every thing else
• is just information. Einstein
• Early days the journey has just begun. ????,
  ???? ??????
• Clarity
• Consistency
• Continuity
• Diversity
• Flexibility
• Our students deserve an enriching and stimulating
  learning experience as they become professionally
  qualified at an internationally competitive
  level.

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Thanks

• Thanks