The Centre for Foundation Studies (CFS) of Kampar Campus organised a webinar titled Outcome-Based Education on 23 March 2022 via Microsoft Teams. It was delivered by CFS Deputy Director-cum-Lecturer Lim Khiew Loon and moderated by CFS academic Lionel Keith Vytialingam.

The webinar aimed to enlighten the students about the concept of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) as well as its processes and benefits.

Lim started the talk by explaining Outcome-Based Learning. He said, “The OBE learning has been implemented for some time in UTAR. It represents a paradigm shift from traditional models of education because OBE focuses on outcomes rather than grades. With this webinar, we hope to create more awareness of OBE, especially among newly enrolled students and educators.

“OBE emphasises on skills and activity rather than grades and consequently represents a better benchmark to evaluate students based on their respective disciplines,” he added.

Highlighting the advantages of OBE, Lim said, “Since the OBE shifts the focus from teacher-centred learning to student-oriented learning, this method is proven to be able to motivate students’ interest more effectively, hence resulting in an enhanced learning experience. Apart from that, with OBE, students would be able to see how well they have achieved in each criterion, known as course outcome, and improve their skillsets more effectively. Thus, the grading system does not allow students to be engrossed in grades.”

Before ending the webinar, Lim proceeded to demonstrate the UTAR OBE Processes and Framework. In addition, he also provided detailed explanations on Programme Educational Objectives (PEOs), Programme Outcomes (PO) and Course Outcomes (CO) and how these elements fit into UTAR’s Six Educational Pillars and eight MQF LODs. Lim also showed a short animation to summarise his talk and expressed his hope for the audience to spread awareness about OBE’s benefits.